A Pleasant Yet Dangerous Life
by GeekyMe-DorkyI
Summary: Gothica Rose was eight years old when she saw her mother Valkyrie Cain get killed. Five years later, she meets some old friends of her mother's. Over the next three years, they teach Gothica about magic. Soon, the gang learns that things might not be as they seem They find out that Valkyrie just might not be dead after all.
1. Chapter 1 Gothica

"I told you I'm done with it all!" Mum said to her friend as she swept our kitchen floor.

"I still don't understand why, Valkyrie," a man's velvet like voice said sadly.

"Don't call me that!" she shouted. I heard what sounded like a pot being slammed against the counter. Her voice was shaky as she said; "Don't you ever call me that again."

"Calm down . . . Stephanie," the man told her. Another slam came and I knew that the pot fell on the floor. "I just want to know why it's been eight years when you said you only were going to take a year off to take care of your daughter."

Mum's voice suddenly flared with anger. "That was before he was murdered!" I backed away from the door I was behind, afraid that she'd come bursting through it at the mention of my father's death, but still, I listened to their conversation.

"What does Fletcher's death have to do with you leaving Ireland and magic?"

"It has EVERYTHING to do with me leaving! _Magic_ killed him, _magic_ made me evil, and _magic_ is what made my parents disown me. Magic ruined my life!"

There was a long pause in their conversation as mum's friend tried to take what she said in. I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. Magic? I thought that was fake! "Are you ever going to teacher her?" the man finally asked.

Mum's voice became slick with sarcasm. "Yes, of course I'm going to teach her about the thing that ruined my life."

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it," the man said jokingly. I could just imagine the death stare Mum was giving him. She hated those types of jokes. Even though I was eight, I knew that for a fact. "Well, if you want I could-" he begins.

"NO! You're not going to teach her magic either!"

"What if people come after her? You know you have a lot of enemies, Val- I mean Stephanie. Maybe I could stay for a bit, and just explain to her what to do if someone does come around looking for trouble." I was hypnotized by his voice and their words. Magic and enemies- did Mum used to be that cool? If so, why would she leave that world even after some hard times? What made her become a single mum that works constantly at a job she hates when she could work at a job with something as cool as magic?

"Look, I appreciate you coming here and offering to protect my daughter, but I moved here to Colorado to get away from the your world. I've been here for eight years and haven't been attacked once. I'm sorry but I'm never going back. There's just to many awful memories, Skulduggery," I heard her voice crack at the mention of his name. Who ever this Skulduggery man is, it's obvious that he used to mean a lot to Mum.

There was another long pause and I thought this could be my chance to sneak through so I could get to our bathroom since I'd been standing here for half an hour waiting for them to be done talking so I could go pee. "I guess I should be going," Skulduggery whispered, sadness and despair filled his voice. _And I guess I won't be going pee for the next few minutes_. I thought. I know I shouldn't have heard any of this conversation, so I ran to the couch where I was sitting watching "Sponge Bob Square Pants" on the TV.

I heard Mum take a deep breath and the heavy, wooden kitchen door squeak open. A few seconds later, the two old friends walked to our front door. I watched as Skulduggery wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Mum stiffened then relaxed and hugged his waist, resting her head on his chest. "You know where to find me if you need me," Skulduggery told her.

She nodded in response. Then looked out the window and smiled. "Damn, how the hell do you still have the Bentley?" she asked him with a small laugh (I had no clue why she was cussing in front of me since I was eight. Nor did I know what a Bentley was. But I didn't say anything.)

"Well, I don't need to save you anymore, so that kind of helps me save the car."

Mum rolled her eyes and punched his arm playfully. He smiled at her sadly. I could just see the sorrow in his chocolate colored eyes as he looked at me and tilted his hat in a goodbye. He opened the door, but stopped when Mum said; "Skulduggery, tell Ghastly and the others I said 'hi' will you? And if you get Tanith back, give her a huge hug for me." Skulduggery nodded and I could see the slight, sly smile on his lips. "Thanks." After that, he was gone.

I couldn't stop thinking about what I had heard the rest of the day. Before I knew it, it was time for bed.

I was lying in bed, still awake and thinking. I looked at the clock by my bedside. It read 10:45. I sighed and tried to stop my mind from wondering for the night.

I was just about to fall into deep slumber when I heard glass shattering and items falling over. Mum was shouting, her voice terrified but firm at the same time. I jumped out of my bed onto the soft carpet and walked down to the hallway. I hid in the shadows at the bottom of the steps when I saw the big, bulky men wearing black. I had to hold in my scream when I saw Mum pinned to the wall by black shadows that were jutting from one of the men's walking cane. Hello again, Valkyrie. It's been a long time hasn't it," the man said.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Mum shouted at him. She struggled, but the shadows got tighter, locking her in place. Was this what Skulduggery had meant by enemies?

"Just visiting my dear, old friend," the man with the cane told her.

"We aren't friends!" Mum snapped.

"We were."

"Why are you actually here?" Mum said. Slowly, I inched through the shadows, getting closer to the chaos. One of the men turned as if he felt my presence. I had thought he didn't see me, when strong hands grabbed my arm. I let out a little scream and started to kick the man when I was lifted up off the ground. Mum and the other men looked our way. "Leave her alone! She doesn't know anything, please just leave her!" Mum begged. "She doesn't even have magic!"

"Are you sure about that?" the main man asked.

"I think I would know if my own daughter had magic." Mum hissed back.

"I would leave her, if it wasn't part of the job," the man explained looking at me. By now, tears were streaming down my face. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do and by the look on Mum's face, she didn't know either.

"What job?" Mum's voice was weak and strained.

The man looked at the ground when he said; "To kill you and your daughter."

Mum stiffened. "Why? Who gave you this job?"

"I don't know, Valkyrie."

"So you take a job from someone you don't know. A job that just so happens to be to kill an old friend of yours and an eight-year-old girl! I always thought you were crazy, now I know you're insane!" Mum yelled.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be!"

"Do this job, and Skulduggery will hunt every last one of you down. He won't make your death quick, you know that right? He'll give you an agonizing death and leave you to die!"

"He won't find out."

"H-how do you know?" I managed to get out in a little squeak. The man looked at me. He flicked his cane and I saw the shadows let go of Mum. She crashed to the ground and tried to get up, but was to slow. The shadows joined together and made a sharp point. The man sent the point into Mum's stomach. "Mummy!" I screamed.

"Now for you," the man told me, his voice thick with anger. I looked at Mum's body on the ground, bleeding onto the white carpet. All the men were looking at me, so they didn't see Mum slightly raise her arm. A shadow sped towards the man's cane and knocked it across the room. Another shadow hit the man that was holding me. I dropped to the ground. The three men that hadn't had a shadow shot at them looked at Mum just as a block of shadow hit them all in the head, causing them to become unconscious. The man that had the cane reached out to grab me, but another spike came flying and pierced all the way through the man's hand. Then a block hit him too.

"Run!" Mum said when I looked at her. I could see the tears. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to bring you into this, love." I ran to her and grabbed her hand. Her voice was quiet as she pulled my head down to whisper in my ear. "Find Skulduggery."

I looked at her and she smiled slightly. I knew her life was about to be over. "Mummy," I cried.

"I love you. Now, run." Her hand went limp in mine and the tears started flowing harder. I let go of her hand and stood up just as the man who killed her did. He charged at me and I looked around. I couldn't get to the door so I ran to the open window. It was a long way down from where we were.

I looked back at Mum, and the man. He was getting close. I had no other option.

I jumped.


	2. Chapter 2 Gothica

_FIVE YEARS LATER_

I wake up with a start, even though I should be used to the memories of my mum's murder by now.

Five years.

That's how long I've been running away from those men. That's how long I've been looking for Skulduggery.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. I stand up and stretch, my body stiff from sleeping on the ground. The sunlight just barely reaches my face through the leaves of the tree that I was sleeping under. I look at the green grass and strong trees around me, taking a deep breath and letting the world around me fill my senses.

Ireland.

I don't know what made me come here, but something in my gut told me that I'd have some luck of tracking down Skulduggery here.

I look around to see that there was no sign of the men… yet. I see a young looking couple walking by. I note how the man holds her by the waist protectively, but lovingly. The woman is gorgeous with wavy blonde hair, a perfect, curvy body, and strong arms. Them man is bald with broad shoulders, strong arms, and green eyes. I smile as they walk by and they both smile back kindly. When they passed, my smile fades and I lean against the tree sighing.

Running around for five years, you never really meet anyone for very long. "Wish you could have that luxury?" a man's voice asks behind me. I don't even bother to look, I just run. Their footsteps fall behind me. I'm lucky that there are only two of them now. The real murderer of Mum never showed up again, and one of the men got ran over by a car about a month ago.

I run fast, trying to calm my mind so I could "teleport." It was a skill I learned I could do the day after Mum died. I don't know how I can do it, but I guessed it had something to do with the magic thing Mum and Skulduggery were talking about that day. Sadly, I can only "teleport" a few blocks away-if it decides to work. Then I remembered the one down side to this power.

I can only "teleport" to a place I've been to before and since I'm new to Ireland, I don't have much of a chance of getting away. Just as I realize this, my foot catches on a tree root, and I face plant into the ground. "Bloody hell you are a hard girl to catch, Gothica," one of the men says. Gothica Rose was the name I gave myself when I was nine, so the people couldn't say they saw me when the police came to find me. The men grabbed my arms and pulled me up.

"Are you seriously going to kill me in a park? A place where lots of people can see?" I hiss at them. The men start to laugh and I take this as a chance to kick them both in the groin as hard as I can. They let my arms go and I push them. They both go down on to the ground I start to run to the street. I stumble, my ankle searing with pain- I probably twisted it when I tripped. I look back to see the men getting up. "Damn," I mutter.

I could teleport anywhere in the park, but they would get to me quickly if I can't run. I could teleport to someone and they could help me, but sadly the only people I could see were to elderly or to young to help me. I look behind me and see the couple from earlier they were sitting at a picnic table with two kids and another man. I have to try.

I stair at them and calm my mind, knowing the men were coming at me quickly. "Come on, come on, and work already!" I tell my magic. I close my eyes and the weird sensation of my whole body turning into invisible bubbles takes over me. I feel like I'm floating for a moment, then, I smash onto something hard. I groan and open my eyes to see the blue sky. I sit up and see the couple, kids, and the other man staring at me with shock. I hear angry cries and look up at my stalkers who were running towards us.

My heartbeat quickens and I jump off of the table I had landed on. I land, just to crumple on the ground because of my ankle. "Are you alright?" the blonde woman asks in a thick English accent. I shake my head, not taking my eyes off of the men. She takes my hand gently and helps me up. She must see how scared I am because she looks over her shoulder at the men. She looks at one of the other people at the table. "Who are those men?" she asks in a hushed tone that was urgent.

"I-I don't know," I tell her. I normally tell people that they were just friends who we were playing an odd game of hide and seek, so when the words come out, I mentally slap myself. The men are right behind the woman and my eyes drift to her to warn her. She smiles a bit and before I can say another word, she gently pushes me into one of the other people at her table. She spins around on her heels and kicks the taller of the men in the face.

"Sorry about that," she tells him, her voice filled with sarcasm. "Now, if you don't want me to do that again, then tell me what the hell's going on." Her voice is strong, and demanding. The men look at each other.

"This girl is under arrest, Miss. Low," the small man says. Miss. Low crosses her arms and cocks her head to the side at this comment.

"Under whose order?"

"That is none of your business, Miss. Low."

"Well, considering I'm part of the sanctuary and you aren't, and we have no orders to arrest a teenage girl, I think it is my business." The men sneer at her retort and I smile slightly. "Now, whose orders are you fulfilling?"

"It is Necromancy business, ma'am. I know the sanctuary doesn't like to be involved in our problems." The bigger man says.

"That is true, but arrests and basically anything to do with the law has to go through us first, or did your boss forget that?" Miss. Low's voice was getting angry and harsh. The person I was pushed into gently helped me sit at the table then the bald man walked up next to his lover.

"Leave now, and get your boss to come and speak to us if he really wants to arrest this girl," he says in a hypnotizing Irish accent. I watch in horror as the smaller man suddenly swings a punch at Miss. Low. She ducks and comes back with a round about kick to his legs, causing him to trip onto the ground.

"Please, Miss. Low, let's not fight and work this out like grown ups,"

the taller man says calmly.

"I'm not the one who started it. He tried to punch me!" she yells back. At this, the other man with Miss. Low stands and walks up to the commotion. He stepped in front of Miss. Low and she crossed her arms. "HEY!"

"Now, is not the time to act like a four year old, Tanith!" the man snaps. Miss. Low looks at me and the other two kids. She winks as if to tell us everything will be all right.

"But," she whines: "it's in my nature, Skulduggery!" Skulduggery? That has to be him except for the fact that he doesn't look the same but for the high cheekbones. His dark, curly hair is replaced by blonde wavy hair, his chocolate colored eyes are bright blue, and his skin isn't tan anymore, but a ghost white. Miss. Low keeps whining about how Skulduggery never lets her fight and always calls her immature and bratty. I look at the two kids next to me and see they're both smiling slightly. The boy is maybe a year younger than me with blonde hair that's cut extremely short; his skin is bronze and he has green eyes like the bald man. The girl next to him must me ten and has the same blonde hair except for it goes to her mid back in long curls, she's paler than the boy and has bright blue eyes. It soon occurs to me that they're Miss. Low's and the bald man's kids.

I look back at the men that had been chasing me. The taller one was bleeding from the kick to the face and the smaller one was rubbing the back of his head from the pain that came with the fall. "Elder Bespoke, please get your girlfriend to shut up," the smaller one complains. The bald man- Elder Bespoke- looks at Miss. Low and shakes his head.

"Believe me, I've tried before," he tells them. Skulduggery and Elder Bespoke look at Miss. Low, completely distracted by trying to get her to stop whining. I look at the kids next to me and they look at me. A smile grows on both of their faces. I smile back shyly.

"Shouldn't we do something?" I whisper to the boy. He shakes his head and chuckles a bit. Suddenly, I hear cursing. When I turn back to the adults, I see Miss. Low go flying past me after being hit by shadows. My chest tightens and I stair at the shadows, images of Mum's death flashing through my mind.

"Mummy!" the young girl screams. She tries to stand up, but the boy pulls her down under the table. I feel a tug on my arm, but I can't move. I'm paralyzed. Even though I knew that these men could control the shadows, I'm still caught off guard. I look at Skulduggery and Elder Bespoke fight the attackers, dodging and tossing punches and kicks. I feel useless; have people I don't even know fight the men who have been trying to kill me for years. I look around and see a huge branch next to a near by tree.

I focus on that spot and I feel myself teleporting. I land next to the branch and grab it, teleport to the fight and land behind the taller man. I hit his back with the branch and before he can turn around I make my self appear behind the smaller man. I bash the branch on his head and he crumples to his knees. I focus and teleport next to Miss. Low who is slowly starting to get up. I reach for her hand and she smiles at me. I help her stand up. "Thanks," she says softly. I smile and nod. She runs to join the fight and I lean against the tree, exhausted because I never use this much magic at a time. My ankle is screaming again and I close my eyes and imagine the picnic table.

I open them and see I'm next to the table. Moment later, Miss. Low has the smaller man face first on the table. Skulduggery tosses her some handcuffs and she puts them on the man's wrists. He's still unconscious from the hit to the head. She winks at me then turns to face the other man. "You're out numbered! Give up," she orders him. The man just smiles at her, and steps into the shadows behind him. None of the adults move to get him.

"Damn," Elder Bespoke says quietly. He turns and looks under the table. "You can come out now." Slowly the kids crawl out from under the table. The little girl runs to Miss. Low and wraps her small arms around the woman. Miss. Low laughs and hugs the young girl, whispering something in her little ear. The girl giggled and kissed Miss. Low on the cheek lightly. I smile sadly, remembering I'll never get that luxury with Mum again.

"Well, that was disappointing," Skulduggery mutters.

You know the feeling of being in the middle of two people with them having a conversation over your head? That's feels odd, right? Yeah, try having the two people just staring at each other with you being in the middle of them. I try to walk, but my ankle freaks out and I fall on the ground, my face hitting the hard dirt. "Ow," I mummer. I feel all the other's eyes on me. Miss. Low chuckles and the young girl joins. I feel strong hands gently pull me up into a sitting position. I clear the dirt out of my eyes and see Elder Bespoke looking at my ankle.

"Are you alright?" he asks, locking his green eyes with my blue ones.

"Yeah," I lie. He looks at me, and then pokes my ankle. "Ouch!" I squeal.

"Or not," Miss. Low says. She crouches next to me and looks at my injury. "We can get that fixed easily." Both of them grab one of my arms, and gently guide me up onto my uninjured foot. "We should probably call your mum and dad to tell them where you are." I stiffen at this comment and they both look at me.

"It won't do any good," I say meekly. "Mum um… works non-stop and I don't have a dad." It's not completely a lie since when Mum was alive, she did work non-stop.

"Well, I think she'll stop working if we tell her your hurt." I shake my head and they look at me oddly.

"She doesn't really care about me."

No one replied to this. "So, uh…" the boy starts. "What's your name?" I can tell he's uncomfortable with asking me this.

"Um. . . Gothica Rose," I say quietly.

"Oh so you do have a taken name!" the little girl squeals. I look at her.

"A what now?"

"A taken name." I must look confused because she sighs. "The name you choose so that your given name- the name you got when you were born- can't be used against you. It's primary stuff, silly! Right, Arturius?" The boy looks at her when she mentions his name.

"Ekaterina, be nice," Miss. Low says sternly.

"Sorry, mummy."

"You're a Teleporter, right?" Arturius asks me. I look at him and shrug. "Do you not know about magic?"

"Magic?" I repeat. So I was using magic. I see the look Elder Bespoke gives Miss. Low. "So there is such a thing as magic?" I ask them.

"We have a lot of explaining to do," he mutters.


	3. Chapter 3 Gothica

_THREE YEARS LATER_

"Gothica, get us out of here!" Skulduggery yells at me. I look at him and duck under the oncoming bullets. I run across the mansion's tilled floor to where Arturius and Skulduggery are hiding. I grab onto them and teleport us outside, causing us to land in the middle of a mud puddle at the end of the

drive way.

It was perfect timing, considering the mansion exploded right after.

I look at my teammates and I star to crack up- something I've learned makes the pounding of my heart to calm down after almost being killed. After a few moments, the two of them start to laugh and soon, none of us can stop. That is until; "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh crap," Arturius mutters to me. I cringe as Tanith stalks up to us. She gives us a death glare, but doesn't stop walking until she's in Skulduggery's face.

"You didn't stick to the plan you brainless bonehead!" she yells at him.

"Well, technically, he doesn't have a brain," I point out. Bad idea.

Tanith spins around on her heels and looks at Arturius and I. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?" She is definitely pissed. "Or, am I just imagining that the two of you are standing her, torn up and bleeding? Why are you here?" I shrink back a bit, hating having her mad at me. I guess I'm just frightened that she'll leave me to fend for myself after I piss her off enough. So far, it hasn't gotten that bad-luckily.

"Well, Uncle Skul came by during lunch and said he needed our help with this mission. And we thought it would be more fun than taking a math test," Arturius tells her. "But don't worry, mum, we sent our reflections in our place so technically we don't miss the test."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Tanith shrieks. She spins back to face Skulduggery. "You promised me, Pleasant! You promised you would never use a reflection again! Especially after what happened to Val!" She stops and sighs when Skulduggery dips his head down, letting his black hat cover his eye sockets. "Oh God, Skul, I'm sorry I-"

"No. You made you point perfectly clear, Tanith," he interrupts. And with that, he turns and walks towards the Bentley. He always reacts likes this when Tanith yells at him for things he did wrong when my Mum was alive. Again, I wonder how he would react if I told him that I'm his old partner's daughter.

I look out at the bright lights of Dublin city. Music from a near by party drifts on the breeze into my room. I'm not in the party mood though since all I can think about is how confusing my life has been since the day I met Skulduggery and the others three years ago. But, despite how confusing they've been, there's no denying the fact that they've been amazing.

Ever since that day in the park, I've learned so much about the world Mum was trying to hide from me-magic, the sanctuaries, monsters, vampires, werewolves, villains, and so much more. Now, I can use my powers and go practically anywhere I want as long as I've been there before. I'm also learning fighting, which is a lot of fun. Sadly, I haven't learned that much about Mum and her past. Thinking about her makes me think about Skulduggery and how he just seems to shut down when she's mentioned.

I have to wonder what their relationship was. Were they just best friends with a father-daughter relationship like I've been lead to believe, or were they more? I'm afraid to ask that though. They'll all wonder why I'm suddenly taking interest in her (I never ask about her) and then I'll have to explain who I am. I'm just not ready to do that yet. I have no idea why I'm so hesitant to tell them Valkyrie is my mum. I guess it's just the way they react when she's mentioned.

Or I'm terrified that they won't see me as a different person. That they'll only see me as Mum.

I mean they all did love her a lot. Tanith and her were like sisters. I can't imagine what it was like for them when Tanith had the remnant inside of her for years. Then, when they finally got it out of her, Mum just moved to our house in Colorado. Eight years later, they tracked Mum down. It was going to be Skulduggery's job to try and get Mum back and if that failed, Tanith was going to surprise her and show up the next day.

No one was ready for the surprise that Tanith got instead.

A tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly brush it away quickly when I hear a knock at my bedroom door. I turn my hammock around to see Ghastly walk in (I should probably tell you that soon after I met them, they got the fact that my mum was dead. So Tanith and Ghastly took me into their family). "You alright? I shrug in response and turn back to the window. He walks over o me and leans against the window seal.

"Is Tanith still mad?" I whisper to him. Ghastly looks me in the eyes, and I sigh knowing that's a yes. "We're grounded until we're thirty aren't we?" He just chuckles at this.

"She's more worried than anything you know," he tells me after a few minutes of silence. I look at him for an explanation. "She doesn't want you kids using reflections. She hates them, like, a lot."

"Why? They're useful," I tell him.

"They are, but they can also be very dangerous." I look at him with my head cocked. "Valkyrie had a reflection that she used almost daily. After a while, Skulduggery had to shoot it- which is a long story- and it started to act strangely. Sometimes parts of it's memories would be black and it seemed to get a personality of it's own. One day, it turned on Valkyrie and almost killed her. We never actually found out why it did that though," he explains.

"So, Tanith doesn't want us using reflections because they might go psycho and try to kill us?"

"Something like that."

I nod, trying to understand this. "Wait, so if your reflection tries to kill you, does it count as suicide?" I ask and Ghastly starts to laugh. That's why I like him. He's easy to talk to and can take a joke even in the worst of times. He may not look the best with all his scars on his head and neck, but his personality is one of the best ones I know. Soon, I'm laughing too.

"What's so funny?" Tanith asks from my bedroom door. I look at her and see she's smiling.

"Nothing," I tell her. I watch as she walks over to us. She bends down next to me and wraps me in a warm hug and I smile and hug her back. She puts her forehead on mine, which is something she does whenever she's forgiven me for something. She's the closest thing I've ever had to a real, caring mother, Ghastly is the closest thing I've ever had to a father-without them, I wouldn't have a family.

Ghastly puts his arm around Tanith's hips and says; "Well, looks like we're all one big happy family again." I roll my eyes at him, right before we hear Ekaterina scream. "Or not." Tanith dashes out of my room and Ghastly and I follow her. We walk down the steps to the living room to see Arturius pinning his thirteen-year-old sister on the ground.

"Get off of me!" she yells.

"Not until you give it back!" he yells back. I sigh and put my face in my hands.

"Not this again," I moan. Slowly, I walk over to Arturius and pull him off of his sister. "Knock it off. You're already in enough trouble from earlier!" I hiss in his face.

"I don't care, Gothica. Just tell her to give it back!" I look at Ekaterina and she groans.

"Ekaterina, just give what ever it is back," Tanith orders. I could tell she was tired of the fights everyone has been having with Arturius.

"Fine," Ekaterina grumbles. She digs in her pocket and takes out a guitar pick. Arturius snatches it out of her hand. "It looks like someone can't take a joke anymore." Arturius storms up the steps and into his room, slamming his door behind him.

"Why?" I ask Ekaterina.

"I just want my big brother back!" she says defensively. "I know that he's still upset about loosing Sam, but that was two months ago. It doesn't mean he has to shut the rest of us out of his life!" Her voice gets softer and fills with sadness when she says; "I just want him to talk to me." I silently nod and look at the door to Arturius's room.

Sam what Arturius's child hood friend. All their lives they had plan to be in a band together. They would try and then fail and they try again and the fail again. No matter what happened, they never lost each other though. They would always push through the thick and thin together. He was my age and had a great personality that I always admired. He also had leukemia.

He had this guitar pick that he said was his lucky charm. He would take it everywhere he went and no one could touch it. When his leukemia started to win over his immune system, he tried to get the good luck from the pick to help him, but it didn't work. One day, Arturius and I visited him in the hospital. He was week and probably wouldn't survive much longer. He still kept the idea of starting a band with Arturius alive though.

_"Art, take this." Sam said to Arturius. He handed his long life friend his good luck guitar pick. 'I want you to have this.'_

_ "I can't take it." Arturius told him._

_ "Yeah you can. Maybe it'll give you luck like it used to for me." Reluctantly, Arturius took it. The two of us stayed there the rest of the day, laughing and talking with Sam. I could tell he had just days if not hours left in his life. He was getting weaker with every smart assed remark. His breathing started to get hoarse. When Tanith came to get us Sam said; "Good luck guys. I'll see you again soon." _

On the way home I knew that when we lost Sam, Arturius would never be the same. That same day, we got a call saying that the leukemia finally won and Sam had died. I never would have thought that Sam's death would make Arturius hate the world and everyone in it. Like Ekaterina said, he's shut his family and me out.

I look at Tanith who is rubbing her temples in frustration. "I'll talk to him," Ghastly tells her.

"Don't know if it'll work though," I say.

"He'll come talk when he's ready," Tanith says, her voice cracking with sadness. It was obvious that she was about to loose it no matter how hard she was trying to hide it. Ghastly must have noticed that too, because he gently pulls her to the hallway. I can't hear what he's whispering, but I can tell it helps calm Tanith down a bit. I watch as Ghastly kisses Tanith lightly on the lips and puts his arms around her waist.

"I wonder why they aren't married yet," Ekaterina points out. "They obviously love each other, like, a lot." I look at her, preparing myself for her to keep talking on and on and on for a while. She may be thirteen, but her mind is more like a mind of a ten year olds. "I'm always asked by people 'what was your parent's wedding like?' Apparently, people like to hear about an Elder's wedding, did you know that, Gothica?"

I'm about to say no when she start to talk again; "Do you think maybe dad's to scared to ask?" And then she just keeps talking non-stop. _When do you breathe?_ I think. "Hey, is that Uncle Skul?" she asks. I look out the window and see Skulduggery walking to the door. By the looks of it, he's really mad but since he's a skeleton, it's kind of hard to tell what he's feeling. With out even knocking, he walks into the house.

Tanith and Ghastly see him and go to greet him. "Look, Skulduggery, about today, I'm sorry," Tanith says. Instead of a sarcastic remark (like Skulduggery always gives her) she's greeted with silence.

"Is everything alright?" Ghastly asks his friend.

"The Grand Mage cut Valkyrie's case."

"What!?" Tanith, Ghastly, and I say at the same time. Everyone looks at me and I go bright red.

"That's just not what I was expecting. I mean, Ravel was one of Mum-I mean Valkyrie's friends right?" They nod slowly. "Then why is he cutting the case?" I ask trying to direct the conversation from me.

"The sanctuary needs us focused on other cases, Gothica," Skulduggery says, his voice hoarse and angry instead of smooth and velvety.

"Like what?" I ask bitterly. I'm not happy that Mum's murder case was cut.

Skulduggery looks at Tanith and cocks his head to the side. "What?" she snaps angrily.

"Perhaps now isn't a good time," Skulduggery says calmly.

"You boneheaded blabbermouth! Tell me now!" she yells. I snicker despite my anger at the new name she came up with for her partner.

"Boneheaded blabbermouth, that's a new one," Skulduggery says jokingly.

"I will call you a worse name if you don't answer me, Pleasant!" Tanith warns.

Skulduggery sighs and leans against the wall next to him. "A curtain blonde-haired Texan- whose name shall not be mentioned- escaped from prison today at four." I see all the color drain from Tanith's face.

"Sanguine," she whispers.

"Sanguine? Who's that?" Ekaterina asks. She walks over to her mum and grabs her hand comfortingly.

"N-no one, sweetheart. No one at all."

By the way she's reacting, I can tell she's lying.

CHAPTER 4- TANITH

I open my eyes and find I'm in front of the stairs that lead to the kid's bedrooms. The house is quiet and eerie. I watch as something small walks by me, completely unaware of my presence. I look closer at it.

It was a small rag doll like the ones I had as a young girl.

It looked like an odd doll version of my daughter. It had yarn the same blonde as Ekaterina's hair, a white blouse and blue jeans- the outfit Ekaterina was wearing today, pale fabric representing skin, and blue buttons representing it's eyes. The only thing that didn't resemble Ekaterina was the smile. While her smile is sweet and warm, the doll's smile was wicked and cold. I watch as the toy slowly pulls itself up one step than another. It repeats that over and over until it reaches the top of the stairs.

It turns to look at me. One small, pale arm is raised as if the doll was offering a hand to help me up the stairs.

Now, if I were in a horror movie, I would probably die if I didn't know how to fight. I'm one of those people who are too curious to turn down something they can't understand-like a doll walking on it's own. It's actually very hypocritical because I always yell at the characters that go to the creepy door at the end of the hallway in a haunted house. I mean, don't they hear the dramatic music that's playing the whole damn movie? I mean it's like they have their very own band following them around, basically telling them not to go into the creepy room!

Right now, I feel like I should have a band following me around since I chose to follow this creepy inanimate object. I walk up the steps, one at a time. My eyes stay on the doll the whole time. When I'm half way up the steps, the doll turns around and starts to walk to the right where the kid's rooms are. I start to climb the steps quicker, wanting to see where it goes, and not wanting that thing near the kids. I turn to the right when I get up the steps and see the doll outside of Ekaterina's door.

I watch it jump for the doorknob, miss it, jump again and grab on. The door opens just a bit, and the doll drops to the floor, and pushes it open so it can walk in. I run down the hall, but it just seems to get longer and longer. I can see her door, but I can't get to it no matter how much I run.

Then, I hear my daughter's terrified scream.

I run harder and the hall seems to stop growing. I through open Ekaterina's bedroom door to see the doll over her body with a straight razor, it's head bowed. The straight razor is covered in blood and I see my daughter on her bed, a huge gash across her neck. I run to her and grab her hand. "Hello, darlin', How's life?" a man asks. I look at the doll, which has been replaced by the one and only Billy-Ray Sanguine.

I stand up, ready to fight, but he sinks into the floor and disappears. "Did you miss me, love?" he hisses behind me. I suddenly feel a cold blade slowly run down my back, cutting the skin. I try to move, but my feet are stuck to the floor. I scream in pain trying to get Ghastly's attention. "He ain't comin', Tanith. I already made sure of that." I scream louder as the blade sinks deeper into my back.

"TANITH!" a girl screams. I look at the window and see Valkyrie at the same time Sanguine reaches around and cuts my throat.

"VAL!" I scream, jerking into a sitting position. I wrap the sheet around my body, terrified. Ghastly moans and sits up next to me. I look at him and he pulls me into his chest.

"Tanith, that's the sixth nightmare you've had this week," he whispers. I start to cry uncontrollably, and he caresses my hair gently. "Shh, it's alright, love. I'm right here," he whispers. "What happened this time?" I know he's worried since I normally don't have six nightmares in a week, but for some reason, I can't get myself to tell him.

"Is everything alright?" I hear Gothica ask behind me. I turn and see her, Arturius, and a very sleepy Ekaterina standing at the door. I smile at them, but none of them smile back. Gothica walks over the bed, and wipes away a tear on my face. "Tanith?

"I'm fine," I lie taking her hand in mine. Arturius and Ekaterina come over the bed, and sit down next to Gothica. Ekaterina slowly climbs onto Ghastly's lap and lies down like she used to when she was little. Within moments I can hear her soft, little snores indicating she's asleep. I look at her and smile, putting my hand lightly on her head.

"We literally had to pull her out of bed," my son tells me. I roll my eyes and try to count how many times my big brother did that to me. "What?" he asks seeing my expression.

"I'm just thinking about how you must get the need to constantly bug your little sister from my brother.

I hear Ghastly chuckle a bit before saying; "It should be interesting when your brother comes tomorrow."

"Damn, I forgot!" I whine, collapsing onto my back. "A full two weeks of being tormented. Yay, I can't wait!" I say sarcastically. I prop myself up on my elbows. "You know the torment's going to be for all of us right?"

"Not me! I'm going to be the one helping him!" Arturius says evilly.

I look at him, unable to keep the smile from my lips. For once since Sam died, he's not shutting us out. "Go back to bed," I order flatly. The kids stand up and I say; "Art, take your sister with you." Of coarse he ignores me, (just like my brother used to do with my mother) and walks out of the room. "Goodnight!" I call after him.

"Night," he says back. I roll my eyes and watch as Ghastly hands Ekaterina to Gothica. I smile at her and she smiles back. Then, she leaves the room, and I stand up and close the door.

"That news from Skulduggery got to you didn't it?" Ghastly asks. I nod and lean against the wall next to the door looking at the window. I can imagine her standing there like in my dream. She was pale blue like a ghost in a movie. I see Ghastly look at the window and then back at me. I close my eyes, allowing the news to finally sink in. Sanguine was free from prison, and the one thing I still don't want to admit to myself after eight years, Val was dead.

Suddenly, I feel strong hands on my face and soft lips on my neck. Ghastly's hands slowly slide down my body stopping on my stomach. He then gently grabs my hips and leads me to our bed. I wrap my arms around him as he pulls me down on top of him "I love you," he whispers between kisses.

"I love you," I mutter back as his lips finally meet mine.

Normally dreams don't get to me that easily, but this one did. All night I couldn't sleep because my mind wouldn't stop thinking about murder, creepy dolls, creepy and psycho Texas hit men, and creepy movie-like ghosts of friends. I rest my head on the kitchen table, wishing I could have gotten some sleep last night. I try to remember the last time I dreamed about Sanguine. It must have been a few days after we caught him and put him in the only cell that could hold him which was one made out of rubber.

And Val, god it's been years since I've had a nightmare about her. Sometimes if I think about her before I fall asleep, I'll have a dream with her in it, but they're never scary just distant memories. I close my eyes, fighting back the tears that are welling up. Another thought came to mind.

Ravel cut her case.

I understand why, but part of me is angry with him. He cared about her too! She was one of the sanctuary's top agents! How could he just do that to all of us? How could he do that to Skulduggery?

With out Valkyrie, I know Skulduggery's lost. It's still not normal seeing him with out her smiling face and teasing comments. I guess that's part of why he's taken Gothica under his wing now. She looks so damn like Val with her black hair, pale skin, tall and slender yet strong body, and her sweet but sly smile. Her eyes are like Fletcher's- a brilliant, shocking blue color.

It's not the first time I've thought about how much Gothica is like Valkyrie and Fletcher. I know they had a daughter-it's not the first time I've thought about Gothica being their daughter- except for the fact that I have no proof because Gothica hates talking about her real parents.

I close my eyes and picture Valkyrie when she was a teenager. I remember the expression she got on her face when she was thinking- the far away gaze that grew in her eyes. I remember the way she reacted when Ghastly turned back from being a statue- the giant hug. I feel a hug full of love and teasing- a hug that could only belong to Valkyrie. I open my eyes, half expecting her to be standing behind me wrapping me up in her special hug, but of course she's not there.

I feel shivers up my arm and down my back. It's like she's here, but I can't see her. "Mum, you alright?" Arturius asks from behind me. I wipe away the tears that managed to escape and look at him.

"I'm fine, just tired," I lie. He looks at me with concern. He was acting like how he did before Sam died. At least one thing in my life was starting to become better instead of worse. "Hey, Art? Come here will you?" I ask and he looks at me, but walks over to me. I stand up and wrap my arms around him in a hug.

After a few moments, he says, "Mum?"

"What?"

"I came in here to make toast so can you let me go?" I hug him tighter while giggling. "Mum! You know I love you more than anyone or anything, but I also love toast and right now, I want to spend a bit more time with that." I sigh dramatically and let him go.

"Will you make me some?" I ask sitting back down at the table.

"Nope."

"Why not?" I complain.

"Because we only have one piece of bread and I called dibs on it."

"Damn."

He looks at me and smiles. "I can make you coffee though." I nod and smile back. I watch him as he puts the piece of bread into the toaster and pulls out the coffee mix. "Hey, where are the girls?"  
"Your father took Ekaterina to work with him. There's apparently some test she needs to take to see if she has some sort of power that your father thinks she has."

"And what power is that?" he asks.

"Don't know. He won't tell me for some reason."

"Oh. What about Gothica?"  
"Skulduggery took her to go do some research for a case that came up last night. Apparently, she hasn't been to the library that might have some answers for them."

"Is there a reason he's never took her there?" I nod and he looks at me for explanation.

"Let's just say there's someone there that Skulduggery and I hate with a fiery passion."

"Why do you hate that person so much?"

"You love asking questions don't you?" Arturius snickers and I stick my tongue out at him. He laughs and I smile. He puts a mug of coffee down in front of me and sits across the table.

"Now, will you tell me why you screamed in the middle of the night? Or at least tell me why you seem sad." I look out the window and feel the tears coming again. "Where you thinking about her again?" I look at him in surprise. "Valkyrie Cain right?" I nod slowly as I finger the lip of the mug. "You and dad haven't actually told me much about her."

"Really?" I thought I had told him everything I ever knew about Val. He nods and I mentally slap myself. "Well, what do you want to know?" I don't know if I can handle talking about her, but maybe it would be good for me.

"What did she look like?"

"A lot like Gothica, but not as Goth in her clothing chose. She had brown eyes and longer hair. I'll have to find a picture for you some time soon," I explain. He nods slowly as if he was having a hard time imagining her. "She was really pretty. She was hilarious, sweet, strong willed, brave, and acted like a four year old." He smiles.

"So just like you?"

"She was a lot better than me," I say. I blink and a few tears fall from my eyes. He stays quiet. He reaches across the table and grasps my hand gently.

"I'm sorry, mum." I look at him and our eyes lock. He then looks away and looks out the window. His face contorts into confusion. "Who's that?" I look out the window and see two blonde men arguing. Both of them look like they're about ready to start fighting. I tense up as I realize who they are.

"Stay here," I order Arturius. I stand and rush for the living room where my sword is.

"Mum?" Arturius asks, following me.

"Art, stay inside!" I yell at him. I grab the door handle, when I feel a hand on my arm. I turn my head about to tell Arturius something, but see he's in the door way to the living room, which is to far to touch my arm. Again I feel shivers go down my arms. I ignore them, and rush outside. The two men are just moments away from their argument turning violent. "Get away from my brother!" I yell as I start unsheathing my sword.

The two men look at me, and the one closest to me starts to smile. "There, ya are, Tanith my darlin'," Sanguine says in his Texan drawl. My brother-Lev- looks at me with anger and worry. I walk up to Sanguine and step between the two men.

"Get inside," I growl at Lev. He may be older than me, but we both know I'm the fighter out of the two of us. I can hear him move a bit from behind me. "Now, Sanguine, don't you ever call me 'your darlin' again."

I can see his corky smile when he says, "What's the matter, love? Ain't you happy to see me?" I take a step toward him.

"How did you get out?" I ask him.

"That ain't any of your business, now is it?" I lunge at him and he sidesteps as if he knew that I was going to attack. I land on my feet and roll forward. Before I get the chance to turn around, he hits me and I face plant into the ground causing an instant nosebleed. He pins me down, by sitting on my back and using his legs to pin my arms. "You forgot everything we've been through, Tanith. You taught me everything you know remember?"

"No I don't remember, Sanguine. I was a freaking remnant for god's sakes!" I guess even after all these years; he's refused to believe I had a remnant inside of me for the year we dated. Suddenly, I feel his straight razor's tip on the bottom of my neck as he slowly begins to cut the skin on my back. He starts to drag the blade down the length of my back, teasingly. The pain is instant and intense. I start to scream involuntarily.

I hear Sanguine's twisted laugh.

"MUM!" Arturius screams. Sanguine stops laughing when he hears this. I can feel him put pressure on the razor, causing it to cut deeper into my skin.

"So, you're a mom now? Who's the dad?" An idea appears in my head. Maybe just maybe if I can get him angry enough, he'll get distracted and I can some how attack him. "I'm going to guess it's someone I don't know since all the men in your life are complete morons."

"Nope, you defiantly know him," I snarl. I hate to admit it, but for the most part, he's right. The men in my life are morons- well except Ghastly. I can feel the blade get more pressure and I resist the urge to scream out.

"It's not that skeleton since it would be impossible to have kids with him." He starts to ramble on about the fact that Skulduggery and I couldn't have kids together and I close my eyes trying to block that thought.

"If it's not Skulduggery, than who is it?" I growl trying to get him to move on from the awful idea.

"What about that Grand Mage of yours? He seems to flirt with you." Again I have to resist the urge to flip out on him for the terrible image of me dating Ravel. I can feel the pressure on the blade lessen as he starts to think. "Wait, it's not that scared guy is it? That tailor?"

"Bingo, Sherlock," I tell him bitterly.

He starts to laugh like I just told him a joke. "You've got to be kiddin'! Why would you stoop that low?" I suddenly feel anger flare up inside of me. His blade as reached half way down my back by now.

"What's so low about that, Billy?" I ask, my words sound like they're full of venom. "Ghastly truly loves me, unlike someone we both know."

"I do love you, darlin'!" he yells.

"Nope. For the hundredth time, the girl you loved was a remnant damn it! You are one hell of an idiot," I tell him. He stops the razor from cutting my back and leans down so his mouth is next to my ear. He really is a bloody idiot!

Before he can say anything, I bang my head into him. He shoots back into his sitting position, his legs releasing my arms just long enough for me to slip them out from where they were and reach back to grab onto his jacket. I pull him to one side and force him off of me. He curses and I somehow manage to stand up quickly. I watch as he disappears into the ground.

"Damn," I mutter.

"Mum!" Arturius calls again. I feel him grab my arm. Lev is by my other side, holding up.

I look at him and glare. "You could have helped me!" I snap.

"I was helping by holding your son back, sis. He would have rushed into the fight and gotten himself killed."

"He knows how to fight, Lev!"

"That man could pin YOU down, Tanith! Imagine what he could do to a kid!" I glare at him, knowing that he's right.

"Mum? Who was that?" I could tell Arturius was scared. I look at him and pat his head. Just the simple movement made my back scream with pain. I flinch.

"Art, go inside and get my phone," I tell him. He hesitates, but then rushes inside to find my phone.

I stumble a bit when I try to take a step, but Lev catches me. I'm loosing a lot of blood from the gash on my back, my head is pounding from the force of the blow to Sanguine's tough face, and my nose is broken from the face pant into the pavement. Ghastly will not be amused.

Soon, Arturius runs out of the house and hands me my phone. I see him look at the puddle of blood from where I was and I turn him around. "Are you going to call dad?" he asks.

"Nope. He won't make it here quick enough."

"You're going to call Gothica aren't you?"

"Yep." I punch in her number and let it ring.

"Hello?" Gothica says on the other end.

"Get home now," I say slowly. The world is starting to spin, so I know I only have a few minutes before I black out.

"Tanith, is everything alright?" I can hear the concern in her voice.

"No."

"What's the matter?"

"Just tell . . . tell Skulduggery that Billy-Ray decided to pay me a little visit."

"OK," her voice is hesitant. I can hear her talking to someone else on her end of the phone. "We'll be there in a minute." Then, she hung up.

"Crap," I say softly. Black spots are staring to appear. Then, I saw nothing.


	4. Chapter 4 Tanith

I open my eyes and find I'm in front of the stairs that lead to the kid's bedrooms. The house is quiet and eerie. I watch as something small walks by me, completely unaware of my presence. I look closer at it.

It was a small rag doll like the ones I had as a young girl.

It looked like an odd doll version of my daughter. It had yarn the same blonde as Ekaterina's hair, a white blouse and blue jeans- the outfit Ekaterina was wearing today, pale fabric representing skin, and blue buttons representing it's eyes. The only thing that didn't resemble Ekaterina was the smile. While her smile is sweet and warm, the doll's smile was wicked and cold. I watch as the toy slowly pulls itself up one step than another. It repeats that over and over until it reaches the top of the stairs.

It turns to look at me. One small, pale arm is raised as if the doll was offering a hand to help me up the stairs.

Now, if I were in a horror movie, I would probably die if I didn't know how to fight. I'm one of those people who are too curious to turn down something they can't understand-like a doll walking on it's own. It's actually very hypocritical because I always yell at the characters that go to the creepy door at the end of the hallway in a haunted house. I mean, don't they hear the dramatic music that's playing the whole damn movie? I mean it's like they have their very own band following them around, basically telling them not to go into the creepy room!

Right now, I feel like I should have a band following me around since I chose to follow this creepy inanimate object. I walk up the steps, one at a time. My eyes stay on the doll the whole time. When I'm half way up the steps, the doll turns around and starts to walk to the right where the kid's rooms are. I start to climb the steps quicker, wanting to see where it goes, and not wanting that thing near the kids. I turn to the right when I get up the steps and see the doll outside of Ekaterina's door.

I watch it jump for the doorknob, miss it, jump again and grab on. The door opens just a bit, and the doll drops to the floor, and pushes it open so it can walk in. I run down the hall, but it just seems to get longer and longer. I can see her door, but I can't get to it no matter how much I run.

Then, I hear my daughter's terrified scream.

I run harder and the hall seems to stop growing. I through open Ekaterina's bedroom door to see the doll over her body with a straight razor, it's head bowed. The straight razor is covered in blood and I see my daughter on her bed, a huge gash across her neck. I run to her and grab her hand. "Hello, darlin', How's life?" a man asks. I look at the doll, which has been replaced by the one and only Billy-Ray Sanguine.

I stand up, ready to fight, but he sinks into the floor and disappears. "Did you miss me, love?" he hisses behind me. I suddenly feel a cold blade slowly run down my back, cutting the skin. I try to move, but my feet are stuck to the floor. I scream in pain trying to get Ghastly's attention. "He ain't comin', Tanith. I already made sure of that." I scream louder as the blade sinks deeper into my back.

"TANITH!" a girl screams. I look at the window and see Valkyrie at the same time Sanguine reaches around and cuts my throat.

"VAL!" I scream, jerking into a sitting position. I wrap the sheet around my body, terrified. Ghastly moans and sits up next to me. I look at him and he pulls me into his chest.

"Tanith, that's the sixth nightmare you've had this week," he whispers. I start to cry uncontrollably, and he caresses my hair gently. "Shh, it's alright, love. I'm right here," he whispers. "What happened this time?" I know he's worried since I normally don't have six nightmares in a week, but for some reason, I can't get myself to tell him.

"Is everything alright?" I hear Gothica ask behind me. I turn and see her, Arturius, and a very sleepy Ekaterina standing at the door. I smile at them, but none of them smile back. Gothica walks over the bed, and wipes away a tear on my face. "Tanith?

"I'm fine," I lie taking her hand in mine. Arturius and Ekaterina come over the bed, and sit down next to Gothica. Ekaterina slowly climbs onto Ghastly's lap and lies down like she used to when she was little. Within moments I can hear her soft, little snores indicating she's asleep. I look at her and smile, putting my hand lightly on her head.

"We literally had to pull her out of bed," my son tells me. I roll my eyes and try to count how many times my big brother did that to me. "What?" he asks seeing my expression.

"I'm just thinking about how you must get the need to constantly bug your little sister from my brother.

I hear Ghastly chuckle a bit before saying; "It should be interesting when your brother comes tomorrow."

"Damn, I forgot!" I whine, collapsing onto my back. "A full two weeks of being tormented. Yay, I can't wait!" I say sarcastically. I prop myself up on my elbows. "You know the torment's going to be for all of us right?"

"Not me! I'm going to be the one helping him!" Arturius says evilly.

I look at him, unable to keep the smile from my lips. For once since Sam died, he's not shutting us out. "Go back to bed," I order flatly. The kids stand up and I say; "Art, take your sister with you." Of coarse he ignores me, (just like my brother used to do with my mother) and walks out of the room. "Goodnight!" I call after him.

"Night," he says back. I roll my eyes and watch as Ghastly hands Ekaterina to Gothica. I smile at her and she smiles back. Then, she leaves the room, and I stand up and close the door.

"That news from Skulduggery got to you didn't it?" Ghastly asks. I nod and lean against the wall next to the door looking at the window. I can imagine her standing there like in my dream. She was pale blue like a ghost in a movie. I see Ghastly look at the window and then back at me. I close my eyes, allowing the news to finally sink in. Sanguine was free from prison, and the one thing I still don't want to admit to myself after eight years, Val was dead.

Suddenly, I feel strong hands on my face and soft lips on my neck. Ghastly's hands slowly slide down my body stopping on my stomach. He then gently grabs my hips and leads me to our bed. I wrap my arms around him as he pulls me down on top of him "I love you," he whispers between kisses.

"I love you," I mutter back as his lips finally meet mine.

Normally dreams don't get to me that easily, but this one did. All night I couldn't sleep because my mind wouldn't stop thinking about murder, creepy dolls, creepy and psycho Texas hit men, and creepy movie-like ghosts of friends. I rest my head on the kitchen table, wishing I could have gotten some sleep last night. I try to remember the last time I dreamed about Sanguine. It must have been a few days after we caught him and put him in the only cell that could hold him which was one made out of rubber.

And Val, god it's been years since I've had a nightmare about her. Sometimes if I think about her before I fall asleep, I'll have a dream with her in it, but they're never scary just distant memories. I close my eyes, fighting back the tears that are welling up. Another thought came to mind.

Ravel cut her case.

I understand why, but part of me is angry with him. He cared about her too! She was one of the sanctuary's top agents! How could he just do that to all of us? How could he do that to Skulduggery?

With out Valkyrie, I know Skulduggery's lost. It's still not normal seeing him with out her smiling face and teasing comments. I guess that's part of why he's taken Gothica under his wing now. She looks so damn like Val with her black hair, pale skin, tall and slender yet strong body, and her sweet but sly smile. Her eyes are like Fletcher's- a brilliant, shocking blue color.

It's not the first time I've thought about how much Gothica is like Valkyrie and Fletcher. I know they had a daughter-it's not the first time I've thought about Gothica being their daughter- except for the fact that I have no proof because Gothica hates talking about her real parents.

I close my eyes and picture Valkyrie when she was a teenager. I remember the expression she got on her face when she was thinking- the far away gaze that grew in her eyes. I remember the way she reacted when Ghastly turned back from being a statue- the giant hug. I feel a hug full of love and teasing- a hug that could only belong to Valkyrie. I open my eyes, half expecting her to be standing behind me wrapping me up in her special hug, but of course she's not there.

I feel shivers up my arm and down my back. It's like she's here, but I can't see her. "Mum, you alright?" Arturius asks from behind me. I wipe away the tears that managed to escape and look at him.

"I'm fine, just tired," I lie. He looks at me with concern. He was acting like how he did before Sam died. At least one thing in my life was starting to become better instead of worse. "Hey, Art? Come here will you?" I ask and he looks at me, but walks over to me. I stand up and wrap my arms around him in a hug.

After a few moments, he says, "Mum?"

"What?"

"I came in here to make toast so can you let me go?" I hug him tighter while giggling. "Mum! You know I love you more than anyone or anything, but I also love toast and right now, I want to spend a bit more time with that." I sigh dramatically and let him go.

"Will you make me some?" I ask sitting back down at the table.

"Nope."

"Why not?" I complain.

"Because we only have one piece of bread and I called dibs on it."

"Damn."

He looks at me and smiles. "I can make you coffee though." I nod and smile back. I watch him as he puts the piece of bread into the toaster and pulls out the coffee mix. "Hey, where are the girls?"  
"Your father took Ekaterina to work with him. There's apparently some test she needs to take to see if she has some sort of power that your father thinks she has."

"And what power is that?" he asks.

"Don't know. He won't tell me for some reason."

"Oh. What about Gothica?"  
"Skulduggery took her to go do some research for a case that came up last night. Apparently, she hasn't been to the library that might have some answers for them."

"Is there a reason he's never took her there?" I nod and he looks at me for explanation.

"Let's just say there's someone there that Skulduggery and I hate with a fiery passion."

"Why do you hate that person so much?"

"You love asking questions don't you?" Arturius snickers and I stick my tongue out at him. He laughs and I smile. He puts a mug of coffee down in front of me and sits across the table.

"Now, will you tell me why you screamed in the middle of the night? Or at least tell me why you seem sad." I look out the window and feel the tears coming again. "Where you thinking about her again?" I look at him in surprise. "Valkyrie Cain right?" I nod slowly as I finger the lip of the mug. "You and dad haven't actually told me much about her."

"Really?" I thought I had told him everything I ever knew about Val. He nods and I mentally slap myself. "Well, what do you want to know?" I don't know if I can handle talking about her, but maybe it would be good for me.

"What did she look like?"

"A lot like Gothica, but not as Goth in her clothing chose. She had brown eyes and longer hair. I'll have to find a picture for you some time soon," I explain. He nods slowly as if he was having a hard time imagining her. "She was really pretty. She was hilarious, sweet, strong willed, brave, and acted like a four year old." He smiles.

"So just like you?"

"She was a lot better than me," I say. I blink and a few tears fall from my eyes. He stays quiet. He reaches across the table and grasps my hand gently.

"I'm sorry, mum." I look at him and our eyes lock. He then looks away and looks out the window. His face contorts into confusion. "Who's that?" I look out the window and see two blonde men arguing. Both of them look like they're about ready to start fighting. I tense up as I realize who they are.

"Stay here," I order Arturius. I stand and rush for the living room where my sword is.

"Mum?" Arturius asks, following me.

"Art, stay inside!" I yell at him. I grab the door handle, when I feel a hand on my arm. I turn my head about to tell Arturius something, but see he's in the door way to the living room, which is to far to touch my arm. Again I feel shivers go down my arms. I ignore them, and rush outside. The two men are just moments away from their argument turning violent. "Get away from my brother!" I yell as I start unsheathing my sword.

The two men look at me, and the one closest to me starts to smile. "There, ya are, Tanith my darlin'," Sanguine says in his Texan drawl. My brother-Lev- looks at me with anger and worry. I walk up to Sanguine and step between the two men.

"Get inside," I growl at Lev. He may be older than me, but we both know I'm the fighter out of the two of us. I can hear him move a bit from behind me. "Now, Sanguine, don't you ever call me 'your darlin' again."

I can see his corky smile when he says, "What's the matter, love? Ain't you happy to see me?" I take a step toward him.

"How did you get out?" I ask him.

"That ain't any of your business, now is it?" I lunge at him and he sidesteps as if he knew that I was going to attack. I land on my feet and roll forward. Before I get the chance to turn around, he hits me and I face plant into the ground causing an instant nosebleed. He pins me down, by sitting on my back and using his legs to pin my arms. "You forgot everything we've been through, Tanith. You taught me everything you know remember?"

"No I don't remember, Sanguine. I was a freaking remnant for god's sakes!" I guess even after all these years; he's refused to believe I had a remnant inside of me for the year we dated. Suddenly, I feel his straight razor's tip on the bottom of my neck as he slowly begins to cut the skin on my back. He starts to drag the blade down the length of my back, teasingly. The pain is instant and intense. I start to scream involuntarily.

I hear Sanguine's twisted laugh.

"MUM!" Arturius screams. Sanguine stops laughing when he hears this. I can feel him put pressure on the razor, causing it to cut deeper into my skin.

"So, you're a mom now? Who's the dad?" An idea appears in my head. Maybe just maybe if I can get him angry enough, he'll get distracted and I can some how attack him. "I'm going to guess it's someone I don't know since all the men in your life are complete morons."

"Nope, you defiantly know him," I snarl. I hate to admit it, but for the most part, he's right. The men in my life are morons- well except Ghastly. I can feel the blade get more pressure and I resist the urge to scream out.

"It's not that skeleton since it would be impossible to have kids with him." He starts to ramble on about the fact that Skulduggery and I couldn't have kids together and I close my eyes trying to block that thought.

"If it's not Skulduggery, than who is it?" I growl trying to get him to move on from the awful idea.

"What about that Grand Mage of yours? He seems to flirt with you." Again I have to resist the urge to flip out on him for the terrible image of me dating Ravel. I can feel the pressure on the blade lessen as he starts to think. "Wait, it's not that scared guy is it? That tailor?"

"Bingo, Sherlock," I tell him bitterly.

He starts to laugh like I just told him a joke. "You've got to be kiddin'! Why would you stoop that low?" I suddenly feel anger flare up inside of me. His blade as reached half way down my back by now.

"What's so low about that, Billy?" I ask, my words sound like they're full of venom. "Ghastly truly loves me, unlike someone we both know."

"I do love you, darlin'!" he yells.

"Nope. For the hundredth time, the girl you loved was a remnant damn it! You are one hell of an idiot," I tell him. He stops the razor from cutting my back and leans down so his mouth is next to my ear. He really is a bloody idiot!

Before he can say anything, I bang my head into him. He shoots back into his sitting position, his legs releasing my arms just long enough for me to slip them out from where they were and reach back to grab onto his jacket. I pull him to one side and force him off of me. He curses and I somehow manage to stand up quickly. I watch as he disappears into the ground.

"Damn," I mutter.

"Mum!" Arturius calls again. I feel him grab my arm. Lev is by my other side, holding up.

I look at him and glare. "You could have helped me!" I snap.

"I was helping by holding your son back, sis. He would have rushed into the fight and gotten himself killed."

"He knows how to fight, Lev!"

"That man could pin YOU down, Tanith! Imagine what he could do to a kid!" I glare at him, knowing that he's right.

"Mum? Who was that?" I could tell Arturius was scared. I look at him and pat his head. Just the simple movement made my back scream with pain. I flinch.

"Art, go inside and get my phone," I tell him. He hesitates, but then rushes inside to find my phone.

I stumble a bit when I try to take a step, but Lev catches me. I'm loosing a lot of blood from the gash on my back, my head is pounding from the force of the blow to Sanguine's tough face, and my nose is broken from the face pant into the pavement. Ghastly will not be amused.

Soon, Arturius runs out of the house and hands me my phone. I see him look at the puddle of blood from where I was and I turn him around. "Are you going to call dad?" he asks.

"Nope. He won't make it here quick enough."

"You're going to call Gothica aren't you?"

"Yep." I punch in her number and let it ring.

"Hello?" Gothica says on the other end.

"Get home now," I say slowly. The world is starting to spin, so I know I only have a few minutes before I black out.

"Tanith, is everything alright?" I can hear the concern in her voice.

"No."

"What's the matter?"

"Just tell . . . tell Skulduggery that Billy-Ray decided to pay me a little visit."

"OK," her voice is hesitant. I can hear her talking to someone else on her end of the phone. "We'll be there in a minute." Then, she hung up.

"Crap," I say softly. Black spots are staring to appear. Then, I saw nothing.


	5. Chapter 5 Gothica

My phone starts to ring, and Skulduggery looks at it. I pick it up and read the caller ID. Tanith. "Hello?" I ask, answering it.

"Get home now," she says slowly. I can hear pain in her voice and I automatically start to worry.

"Tanith, is everything alright?" I see Skulduggery glance at me from across the table. The beautiful librarian named China Sorrows looks up from her book at the end of the table.

"No," Tanith responds.

"What's the matter?"

"Just tell . . ." I can tell she's thinking about what to say. "Tell Skulduggery that Billy-Ray decided to pay me a little visit."

"OK," I say unsure of what that means.

"What's the matter?" Skulduggery asks.

"She said that Billy-Ray decided to pay her a little visit. What does that mean? Who the hell's Billy- Ray?" I ask him.

"Someone you don't want to meet," is his replies. I look at China for explanation and see she has a stony expression. "Tell her we'll be there in a minute."

I put the phone back to my ear and say, "We'll be there in a minute." I then hang up. I stand up as Skulduggery does. "Are you going to explain what she said?"

"Later." His voice is cold, and scary. I know he care for Tanith like a little sister, so naturally he's going to be protective of her (I've seen that side of him), but this was different. This seemed like something bigger than just protectiveness. This seemed like hatred.

I look at China and have to fight the urge to bow down to her and do anything she asks me to do. "If you see him, punch him for me will you, Skulduggery?" she asks. Skulduggery looks at her and then looks away. I don't know what happened between them, but what ever it was, its obvious that China wants it to be solved and Skulduggery doesn't.

Skulduggery starts to walk to my side of the table but stops behind her. He leans down and whispered something into China's ear. She looks at him and sighs. She stands up and walks over to me. I look at her, and she looks at me. "She's coming with us," Skulduggery explains my unanswered question.

"Why?" I ask in bewilderment.

"I must check on something at the sanctuary, child," I scowl at her.

"What?" I ask her suspicion rising.

"Gothica, trust me, its something important." I glare at Skulduggery when he says this. "Now, we must go. Tanith is probably very hurt."

"Why do you say that?" I ask.

"Because, Billy-Ray is also known as Billy-Ray Sanguine- the one man in this world that can actually make her scared."

"How? What can he do?" I ask, taking his hand.

"You should be asking 'what did he do'," China tells me, wrapping her arm around Skulduggery's arm.

"Fine then. What did he do?"

"He snogged her." I look at him confused on how that would scare Tanith.

China leaned forward and looked at me. "Sanguine raped Tanith right after we removed the remnant."

"Oh." I say. "That makes scene.

Three hours later, I'm sitting in front of the clinic aid in the sanctuary.

Skulduggery and China were in the clinic aid talking to the creepy doctor Nye and Tanith. Arturius and Tanith's brother Lev were sitting with me. Ghastly, Ravel, and Ekaterina haven't been told about Tanith yet because they're in an important meeting. I sit there for about another half hour in silence.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME!" I hear Ghastly shout out in the hallway. I flinch at the anger in his voice. I only heard him this angry when he and Tanith were fighting in the middle of the night (which believe me, it happens almost never). He storms into the clinic waiting room, Ekaterina cowering behind Ravel who walked in behind Ghastly.

"Ghastly, my old friend, please clam down," Ravel said calmly. Ghastly turned on him quickly.

"Do NOT tell me to calm down, Ravel! It was not your lover who was attacked by that psychopath, and you had no idea for three and a half freaking hours!"

Ravel sighs, and walks Ekaterina to the seat next to me. I put my arm around her shaking body. I think Ghastly forgot that she's terrified of loud sounds especially when it's yelling from people she loves. "Ghastly, stop yelling, you're scaring the kids!" Tanith snaps from the clinic door. I look at her and see she's standing there looking at her boyfriend annoyed. "I'm alright."

He walks over to her and cups her face in his hands. I watch as he kisses her. "Eww," Ekaterina whispers to me. I smile at her and look at Arturius who's staring at me. I tilt my head in a questioning way and he blushes and looks away quickly. I hear Ekaterina giggling.

"What?" I ask her.

"Nothing," she tells me between fits of giggles. I put my head in my hands and sigh. I feel bony hands on my shoulders and look up to see Skulduggery looking at me.

"What?" I ask him.

"Nothing," he responds. I glare at him. "Now, Gothica, we must go find lyrics to Broadway musicals!"

"What?" This gets everyone to look at us. "Why do we have to look up lyrics to Broadway musicals?" I ask him.

"Because, I want to sing them while on long drives in the Bentley." I stare at him, completely confused. "It gets quite boring when we go into long silences- which happens a lot. I want to be able to start doing something in those silences. I want to start singing Broadway musicals!" he says proudly. I blink a few times just to make sure that this isn't a dream.

Surprisingly, it's not.

"Uh . . ." I have no idea how to respond to this. I can hear Ekaterina laughing even harder now. Tanith is shaking her head and Ghastly just looks plain confused. "I have no idea how to respond to that," I say. He grasps my hand and pulls me out of my seat.

"You need to pop us back to the library so I can get the Bentley."

"I don't want to learn Broadway musicals!" I protest.

"Then, we need to go to your house and look up lyrics on your computer."  
"Skulduggery, I don't want to learn Broadway musicals!" I say louder.

"Nonsense, Gothica. Everyone wants to learn Broadway musicals! They're just so . . . musical!"

I have a feeling that tonight was going to be a long-song filled night.


	6. Chapter 6 Gothica

All right, note to self; NEVER EVER let Skulduggery make you listen to Broadway show tunes for five hours straight! Or else, you will have dancing skeletons singing "One Short Day" from Wicked in your dream.

That is you will have dancing and singing skeletons until you're dead mother screams your name just as a killer slits your throat. Yeah, not a fun dream.

I wake up yelling, "Mum!" No one comes rushing in like they did for Tanith the night before, which is fine by me. I sit up panting, a twisted parody of "One Short Day" running through my head. I moan and silently curse Skulduggery. My hand feels my throat just to make sure that there was no cut. Luckily there isn't.

I look at the clock in my room. 6:45. I take a deep breath and stand up, cross over to my dresser, and choose clothes for today. I put on my red tank-top, black jeans, and black combat boots. I brush my dark hair, put in the neon red hair extensions, and put on my make-up. I can't stop thinking about my mum in the dream. She looked like one of those ghosts from a horror movie- all blue and see through. Ghastly always said that sometimes dreams had meanings.

Did this mean that Mum was a ghost?

I'm not sure, but I turn around to look at my full-length mirror, and scream when I see her in the reflection right behind me. This of course gets everyone to come rushing into my room. I stare at the mirror in shock and horror. "Goth, what's the matter?" Tanith asks, worry in her voice.

"C-can you not see her?" I ask them. I look over my shoulder, but I can't see her behind me. I looked back to the mirror and see she's standing- no floating- in front of me. I take a step back and run into Arturius.

"See who?" Ghastly asks. I stare at the holographic figure in front of me. Her face looks so sad when she shakes her head.

"They can't see me right now," she mouths.

"Um, no one," I say meekly. "I guess I was just seeing things." I look at him and try to smile.

"You know, you're horrible at lying," Skulduggery says from my window. I look at him. I can't tell if he can see her since I can't read his expressions because he doesn't have any. I look at Mum and see her walk towards Skulduggery. She touched his face gently with her hand, and I'm sure she would be crying if she could. "So, who did you see, Gothica?"

I shake my head. "No one." I can feel Tanith and Ghastly exchange looks behind me. Skulduggery walks over to us and puts his hand on my arm. I can see Mum behind him looking heart broken that he didn't see her.

"Tell us," he orders. I shake my head again, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. "Gothica,"

I look at her and she nods slightly as if to say it's okay to tell them. "My-my mum," I tell them. She looks at me, her head tilted. I see the disapproving look in her eyes. "She's gone now." Mum looks surprised by this comment, but then disappears into my closet. I look at my friends and smile sadly. "Well, let's get on with our days now!" I want to seem fine, so I walk out of the bedroom door like nothing ever happened.

But in reality I just want to curl up into a ball and cry.

The day is a long, boring day at school even though it's the last day before summer. After school, I sit down on one of the swings at the park across the street from the building. I put my Ipod earphones in my ears and turn on my music. "Missing" by Evanescence starts playing and I start quietly singing along to it. The eeriness of the song starts to get to me, so I press the next button.

Of course it turns on "Nobody's Home" by Avril Lavigne. I feel the tears welling up, but I don't change it. How many times did I feel like this?

How many times did I run away from a loving family that would take me in for about a week? I've even thought about leaving Tanith, Ghastly, Ekaterina, and Arturius. But why?

I guess it's just I don't know where I belong.

"She wants to go home, but nobody's home!" Sometimes I just want to teleport back to Colorado and go home. Curl up in my old bedroom, feel the sadness and anger from that night again.

"It's where she lies, broken inside." I guess I am broken inside. I've never been very open to others since that night. Maybe, just maybe if I go back, I'll have the courage to tell everyone whom I really am. Maybe I can pick up the broken pieces of my self that I left there. I stop swinging and loose my self in the song.

Suddenly, I feel strong arms yank me backwards, causing me to fall onto my back. My breath is knocked out of me and I look up to see the face of the man that got away from Tanith and Ghastly the day we met. "Finally, I got you." I try to scream but nothing comes out. I try to move, but realize he's got me pinned down with shadows. "I can kill you right here right now, if I wanted."

"Then why don't you?" I hiss. He punches me with a shadow, causing my nose to break. He keeps hitting me with shadows.

"Sadly, the boss want me to bring you to him alive." I squirm and try to calm my mind down. I picture the sanctuary-Ghastly's office, and within moments, the man and I are there, wrestling. I kick him in the groin, and he backs off. I stand up and look around the office to see that Ghastly's not there.

"Damn," I mumble. The man is slowly getting up, and I teleport to the next place I can think of, the clinic aid. Skulduggery's there leaning against the wall and talking to Ravel who's getting a blood sample for some reason. "Skulduggery!" I yell. Both men look at me and Skulduggery stands up straight. I run to him and grab his arm. "Please tell me you have hand cuffs!"

"Yes, why? Gothica, what happened?"

I teleport him to Ghastly's room and see that the man's gone. He probably shadow walked away when I teleported. "Damn!" I yell.

"Gothica, what happened?" Skulduggery asks me, putting his hands on my shoulders. I teleport us back to the clinic aid and see Tanith and Ghastly there. The look at me, and Tanith rushes to my side. Skulduggery walks over to Ghastly.

"Oh my god!" Tanith says. She gently touches my nose and I flinch. "What happened?" I look at her and then at the others. I take a deep breath and explain what happened. Clarabelle sits me down on a bed and starts to clean my wounds.

"Why would he wait three years to attack me?" I ask them.

"That boss that he told you about. He probably didn't let the man attack until today," Ghastly explains. I look at Skulduggery and see he's still and silent.

"What?" I ask him, it sounded harsher than I wanted it to, but he didn't seem to notice.

"It can't be a coincidence can it?" he asks. "This morning, you said you saw your mother. She was a ghost I assume considering none of us saw her." I nod, not sure where he's going with this. "Then the man attacked you. The man that had been chasing you since you were eight."

"Yeah, so what?" I ask.

"Oh god," Tanith mutters, putting her hand on her forehead.

"What?" I ask them. "What does it mean?"

"He couldn't attack you until you had contact with your mother again," Ghastly explains. "But why did he have to wait?"

"I don't know that answer, but I think I may know what the man wants. Gothica," Skulduggery says softly. I look at him. "It's time to tell us who you're mother is."

I hesitate. "I can't," I say quietly.

"You need to!" he snaps. I look at him, tears coming alive in my eyes for the third time today. "It could be important. He attacked you after you saw your mother's ghost! It can't be a coincidence!"

"Yes it can!" I yell. "Why does she matter?"

"What did she do to get killed?" he asks. I look at him, not sure how he knows that she was murdered. I never told anyone.

"H-how did you know she was killed?" I ask feebly.

"The men chased after you for five years. That's all you told us about them. You saw your mother's ghost- that means she's dead. You won't tell us about her, so my guess is that you didn't get along, or you hate talking about her because it hurts too much, my guess is that it hurts too much because you never act angry when she's mentioned. All of those facts lead to one thing- she was killed. Now why was she killed?"

I look at him, tears falling down my face. "I-I don't know, Skul. I honestly don't know! All I know is that these men, the men that were chasing me the day we met and three others broke into the house and killed her!"

"Why?"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW! I WAS EIGHT WHEN I SAW HER DIE, DAMN IT!" I scream.

"Alright both of you calm down!" Ghastly yells.

"Who was she?" Skulduggery barks. I'm shaking with anger, all I want is for him to stop asking me the damn questions about her.

"Valkyrie Cain!" It comes out of my mouth to quickly for me to stop it. Everyone in the room goes silent and stares at me. To late now to take it back. "Valkyrie Cain, Stephanie Edgily-what ever you want to call her- was my mother."


	7. Chapter 7 Skulduggery

We sit in the Bentley silence drifting for a long time now. I knew deep inside that Gothica was Valkyrie's daughter, but something just didn't want me to believe it. I glance towards the sixteen-year-old girl sitting in the passenger seat, and can't help but think about all the times I did that with Valkyrie. I was feeling sadder than normal thinking about my old partner.

I realize for the first time what today actually is.

May 25th- exactly eight years ago was the last time I saw Valkyrie alive.

I sigh quietly and try to think about something other than her. Gothica looks at me, but I keep my eyes on the road. "Where are we going?" she asks me. I didn't tell her when I picked her up from her house this morning. After yesterday's argument, I didn't think it would be wise for me to tell her right away.

"I'm taking you to some places important to your mother," I say flatly.

"Why? Won't that just make you upset?" Her words sound like they're full of poison aimed at me. The truth is, I need to get my mind to distinguish Valkyrie and Gothica as two very different people. I need to be reminded of who Valkyrie was and what was important to her compared to who Gothica is and what's important for her. "I guess you don't care if it makes you upset or not."

One thing I can distinguish is that Gothica is a lot darker than her mum. Even when Valkyrie was fighting with Darquess for control, Valkyrie wasn't this dark, this negative, this . . . mean. At least she wasn't around me.

Gothica also gets offended a lot easier than Valkyrie. She just doesn't take a joke as well. I feel the sadness creep up again, and this time, I let it in. "Skul?" Gothica asks after a long silence.

"Gothica?" I respond.

"I remember you from that day," her voice is week. "I remember listening in on your conversation with her."

"And why were you listening in on our conversation? Did your mother ever tell you eavesdropping is a bad thing?"

"I had to go pee and that was the only way to the bathroom." I laugh a bit at this. I look outside the window and see the sky is a dark gray- perfect weather for this 'anniversary'. I take a left down the next street and stop. "Where are we?" she asks me.

"The place I would pick your mum up every day." I got out of the car and look at the bay. Nothing's changed. The sea still smells of salt, the sand is still that sand color, and the rocks haven't moved. Nothing's changed, but at the same time everything has. This was always our place. I think about all those times we would meet up here in the middle of the night, just to see each other. The times that we would sit on the hood of the Bentley look at the stars, and she would tell me everything about her family.

I remember the night she told me she was pregnant.

We were sitting on the hood of my car like normal. I held her close to me mainly because I could tell she was scared. "Skulduggery?"

"Yes?"

"I have to tell you something I haven't told anyone, not even Fletch." I looked at her and even in the dark night I could see the tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" She sat up and I propped myself up on my elbows. When she didn't say anything, I sat up and put my arm around her shoulders. "Tell me, Valkyrie."

"I'm pregnant." I remember being surprised, happy, and sad all at the same time. She and Fletcher had only been married for about two months and she was already pregnant.

"That's great!" I said, trying to make it sound convincing. I guess I would never get a chance with her.

She shook her head. "I don't think I'm ready. I mean, what if something bad happens and I can't take care of her anymore?"

"Her?" I asked.

"Yeah, I just have this feeling that it's going to be a girl. I guess it's mother's instincts. But would happen-"

"I could take care of her if it ever got to that, Valkyrie." I saw her smile at the thought of me taking care of her daughter. "I've been a father before, Valkyrie." She looked at me and suddenly started crying.

"I'm scared. Everything will change, Skulduggery! I don't want it to change."

"It's not going to change," I told her sternly. "Trust me."

I couldn't have been even more wrong.

"Skulduggery?" Gothica asks. I look at her. "Are you alright? You kind of went into Skeleton World there for a moment."

"Skeleton World?"

"You spaced. You alright?"

"Yes," I lie. She looks at me with suspicion on her face.

"It's beautiful here. I can see why you two met here." She looks out at the sea.

"She killed her boyfriend here." I say. Gothica whips around to look at me as if I was crazy. "Her boyfriend Caelen was a vampire. She actually cheated on your father with him."

"She cheated on my father!?"

"When they were teenagers yes. Then somehow they got back together, got married, had you, and then he was killed."

"One question; why did she cheat on him with a VAMPIRE?"

"No clue. Anyways, let's go. I have another place I want to show you and somebody I want you to meet." I turned from the bay and the memories and got back into the driver's seat of the Bentley. A few moments later, Gothica got into the passenger's seat.

"Are you going to ever come back here?" she asks me.

"Probably not," I tell her. I start up the car and drive down the street. I slow down when I get in front of Valkyrie's parent's house. "There's your grandparent's house." I saw a young woman step outside of the front door. She turns around and shock appears on her face. She runs over to the car and I roll down the window.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Alice Edgily asks.

"Ah, so you remember me, Alice," I tell her. She's probably 21 now, and is absolutely stunning.

"If my parent see you, they're going to freak!" Last time I saw Alice she was probably 13. I had gone to see Gordon and saw Alice there alone at his house. She's the only one in her family that doesn't hate me because of my magic.

"May I say, you are looking stunning, Alice dear."

"Skulduggery, I may not hate you like my parents do, but we aren't friends." Then she looks past me to see Gothica. "Who's this?"

"Ah, this, my dear Alice, is your niece Gothica Rose," I tell her.

"Niece?" both girls ask at the same time.

"Yes, niece." I could see Alice's face go sad.

"I didn't know that Stephanie had a daughter. I knew she was dead, but when did she have a daughter?"

"Eight years before her death," I tell her. Alice chuckles a hard laugh.

"You look a lot like her," she tells Gothica. Gothica nods a thank you but stays silent.

"Alice?" I hear Desmond call.

"Hold on, dad!" Alice calls over her shoulder. She turns back to us. "Have a good night, Skulduggery Pleasant."

"You too, Alice Edgily. She looks at Gothica.

"It was nice to meet you."

"You too," Gothica says gently. Alice waved and stepped away from the car and I drove on to our next destination.


	8. Chapter 8 Gothica

We drive in silence while I look out my window. I couldn't stop thinking about Alice- my aunt. How did she not know that her own sister had a daughter? "Skulduggery?" I ask quietly. He casts a glance at me. "Why didn't Alice know about me?"

"You're mother was . . . disowned by your parents when Alice was about five."

"Why'd they do that?" I was confused I wanted answers about my mother.

"They . . . they didn't know about magic being real. Then one day, they found out in the worse way possible. The thought she was a freak and then disowned her." I could tell it was hard for him to talk about it.

"That's harsh," I say. He nods. "Well, what was the 'worst way possible'?" I ask.

"Something you don't need to know about yet," he tells me. I look at him with shock.

"Why?"

"You'll get the wrong idea of Valkyrie if you don't know what she went through before." I look at him, wanting him to explain more, but he doesn't. I sigh and go back to looking out the window. It starts to rain, and I close my eyes, listening to the pitter-patter of the drops on the Bentley. Before I know it, Skulduggery stops driving and turns the engine off. I open my eyes and see a huge Gothic mansion.

"Where are we?" I ask. I watch as he gets out of the Bentley. I slowly get out too but for some reason I don't want to. I could feel weirdness in the air. Weirdness that I can't explain- not sadness, not anger, not happiness, nothing. It was like everything here was dead, emotionless. I look at Skulduggery and wonder why he brought me here. "Skul?" I ask. He's still silent, looking up at the building. "What are we doing here?"

"There's something wrong," he mutters. So he feels the weirdness too. He starts walking up to the house.

"Skulduggery, I don't think that's a good idea!" I call after him. He doesn't stop walking, so I run after him. "Skulduggery what are we doing here? What's wrong?" He still doesn't answer me. "Skulduggery answer me!" He turns back towards me and puts his finger up to his lips as if to tell me to be quiet. I cock my head in annoyance and watch as he pulls a brick off the wall and looks inside the hole. He grabs a small object and holds it up for me to see it. "A key?" I ask.

He puts the key in the keyhole and opens the door. He steps inside, hand ready to pull out his gun. I reluctantly follow. The house was huge, and covered with Gothic interior. Who ever lives here, defiantly has taste. I follow Skulduggery up some steps and down a long hall way to a closed door. He jesters for me to open the door and I look at him, eyes wide. I shake my head and he shrugs his thin shoulders and slowly reaches for the doorknob.

Then, the door swings open fast and violently.

Skulduggery backs up startled and pulls out his gun. I walk over to him and he grabs my waist and pulls me close to him protectively. I blush, and see him hold his gun up in his other hand. When nothing jumps out of the door, he relaxes a bit and lets go of me. "Stay close," he whispers. I nod and we both walk into the room. I notice that it's filled with framed posters of book covers- all of them books by Tanith's favorite author Gordon Edgily. I look around and an idea forms in my head.

"Was this house Gordon Edgily's?" Skulduggery nods in answer. I suddenly feel like I'm invading on a sacred place. Why are we in an author's old home? Skulduggery crosses over to an old bookshelf and pulls on a big book. Instead of the book coming out of the shelf, the shelf swings to the side to reveal yet another room. Skulduggery waves his hand in front of him, telling me to enter. I hesitate, but do anyways.

It's incredible. I can just feel the magic that surrounds me in objects I've seen before and objects that I haven't. "Wow," I whisper in awe. Who knew that Gordon Edgily knew about magic? Well, maybe a lot of people knew, but I surely didn't. I walk over to an old wooden table with symbols covering it. I see a beautiful red and golden box that has a type of jewel I've never seen before resting in it I pick it up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Skulduggery warns. I look at him and carefully set the box down. "Gordon, you have visitors," he calls into the air. Suddenly, the jewel lights up and a man appears next to me. I scream and scramble backwards towards Skulduggery. The man looks at me with his head tilted. "Hello there, Gordon." Skulduggery says.

"Skulduggery, it's been a long time!" The man says, his voice filled with surprise. "May I ask, who this is?" he asks, pointing to me.

"This is Gothica Rose. She's your niece's daughter. Gothica, this is Gordon Edgily, your late, great uncle." I look at the man and he laughs.

"I'm going to guess that you're Val's daughter." I nod slightly, not sure what to say. He smiles and looks back at my partner. "So, anything new I should know about?"

"Ravel cut Valkyrie's case." Gordon's face contorts into confusion.

"Why?"

"Mainly because Billy-Ray Sanguine escaped from prison."

Gordon sighs and puts his hand on his head. "How on earth did that happen?" Skulduggery shrugs. I look at the two men, who continue their conversation about some one I don't know. They've forgotten about me haven't they? I look around, still confused. I look at Skulduggery who's completely sucked into the conversation with my dead great uncle.

Then a thought comes to me. Dead. I have a dead great uncle that my dead skeleton detective partner is having a casual conversation with. That's not weird at all.

"Gothica," someone whispers. I look at Skulduggery and Gordon who apparently didn't hear anything. "Gothica," the voice calls again. I silently make my way out of the magical room and back into the study. I look around, trying to find the person that the voice belongs too. No one's there though. I look down the hall way and see the silhouette of a woman. I walk out of the study, and make my way down the hallway. The light flickers on and I see the woman is gone.

"Gothicaaaaa," the voice sounds like a snake hissing. My mind automatically goes to the hypnotic snake from the "Jungle's Book". God, I hate snakes especially talking snakes that like to hypnotize people. I swear if I run into that stupid cartoon character I am going to scream so loud people back at Colorado will hear me. "Gothicaaa,"

"Alright creepy voice, I heard you the first time," I mutter to the air. I look down the stairs and hear what sounds like pots and pans being moved in the kitchen. I look back into the study and see that neither my dead uncle nor my dead partner has notice I'm gone yet. I walk down the grand staircase and make my way to the kitchen. The lights down here are off, and even though the sun was still out, it was incredible dark. I fumble for the light switch in the kitchen and when I find it, I feel something cold land on my hand. I look to where my hand is and see another hand coming through the wall.

I yank my hand back and the hand through the wall comes forward. First an arm, then a leg, a side, and a head. "Mum?" I ask. Mum's whole body comes out from the wall, she was as ghost like as yesterday morning, but something about her was off.

"Gothica," she whispers. I watch as she holds out her hand. "My daughter." She glides towards me, and I take a step back. "I have something I want to show you, love."

"No," I respond, shaking my head. She holds out her hand again, and I look at it. "No," I repeat.

"I won't hurt you," she insists. I look at her beautiful face. If I looked anything like her, it would be a blessing. He face has soft angles, a small splash of freckles, a cute nose, and perfect lips. Her eyes however didn't match. They were hard, threatening, challenging, and evil.

"Why don't I believe you?" I demand. Her face contorts into frustration.

"I don't know, dear. Why don't you believe me? I am your mother."

She takes a silent step closer, and I step back again. I run into the wall. I resist the urge to scream for Skulduggery. "Gothica, come here."

"NO!" I yell. Mum's face goes from frustration to anger. I look at the door to the main room.

"Dear, didn't anyone tell you, mother knows best?" I stare at her, and she takes another step closer.

"Don't come any closer," I order. She stops and glares at me. "I can get Skulduggery down here with just one simple scream."

"He won't do anything. I was his partner, he cares about me," she says. "He doesn't care about you as much as he did for me, Gothica." Of course she's right, but I don't tell her that. She takes another step towards me, and I teleport to the other side of the room. She looks around confused then, she sees me and her smile becomes sly. "Just like your father."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He was a Teleporter too. He also was a coward."

"I may not have known him, but I know that he wasn't a coward, mother," I say 'mother' like it was toxin. This just makes her even angrier. I don't get it. Where's the woman from yesterday? The woman who seemed to love me, and Skulduggery? I watch as Mum raises her hand towards me. For a moment, nothing happens, and then I feel something hard hit my head. I fall on my knees, everything spinning.

"YOU DO NOT SPEEK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOUNG LADY!" Mum shrieks. I can't focus. I try to teleport back to the magic room where Skulduggery and Gordon are, but I can't picture it. I look up, and see Mum walking towards me again. My vision begins to double and now I see two of her. I do the only think I can think of.

I scream.

"Gothica?" Skulduggery yells. I hear him running up stairs. I look at Mum and see she's looking where he's coming from. I see him come down the steps and look around trying to find me.

I feel another bash to the head and I scream involuntarily this time. Skulduggery runs into the kitchen. He stops in the doorway. "Valkyrie," I hear him whisper. Mum smiles evilly.

"Go to hell, Skulduggery," she says as she disappears.


	9. Chapter 9 Gothica

I sit in the hammock in my room. Why did Mum attack me like that? I hear the downstairs door open. Tanith and Ghastly are laughing and Ekaterina is trying to explain something. Arturius says something that's muffled to me, and that sends his parents into another fit of laughter. A few minutes later, the door to my bedroom opens. "Hey," Arturius says.

"Hi," I reply without looking at him. I hear him walk over to my bed.

"Missed you at dinner." I shrug. I got home and I wasn't in the mood to go out to dinner with everyone. I can feel Arturius's eyes on me. He comes over to me and grabs my hand. He pulls me out of the hammock and into his arms. He's back to his normal self for now, so I decide not to push him away. I can feel my head still hurting a bit, and without any warning, I start sobbing.

Arturius doesn't seem surprised though. He gently caresses my hair, and tells me it's okay. He leads me to my bed and I sit down, trying to stop crying. I take a shaky breath and look at the floor. He puts one hand on mine and lifts my chin with his the other. "Skulduggery called dad and told him what happened." I nod, knowing that he did this. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shrug and flop down onto my back. "Not really," I tell him. He lies down next to me and I look at him.

"Then you don't need to." I look up at the ceiling and see the drawings Ekaterina's done for me. Amazing sketches of me, her family, Skulduggery, there's even one of my odd yet close friend Clarabelle. I've always been impressed with her skills. I feel the bed shift as Arturius turns his body towards me. "Hey, Goth?"

"Yeah?" I look at him and his deep green eyes. He gently moves towards me.

"I just, I need to do something." He sounds scared and I look at him worryingly. He inches closer to me. Before I know it, his face is hovering above mine. My breath catches as I realize what he's about to do. Arturius closes his eyes and leans down and kisses my softly. I close my eyes and softly kiss him back. Within moments, I'm lost in his kisses. His hands are on either side of my head. He moves his body, so that he's completely over me, his knees against my hips.

Normally, I would have thought this a weird pose to be in, but right now, I find I really like it. His lips slowly make it down to my neck, and I moan slightly. "EWWWWW!" I hear Ekaterina. Arturius jumps and falls off the bed. I blush bright red and quickly sit up to see her and Tanith in my doorway.

"I am going to pretend I didn't see anything other than the kisses," she says, giving Arturius a disapproving look. He sits up on the floor, as bright red as I am. She turns and walks down the hall to the stairs. Ekaterina is grinning like a little devil.

"Dad is not going to be happy, big brother." I watch as she flashes one last evil grin at her brother then follows her mum.

"She's just a little . . . brat." I laugh and he sits back down on my bed, his back towards me. I grab onto the back of his shirt and pull him back down on to the bed. I teleport to the door and close it then I teleport back to him and kiss his soft lips. His arms go around my waist and pulls me down with him, making me lay on top of him. "Finally," I hear him mumble between kisses.

I sit in Ravel's office, incredibly tired. After the day I had yesterday, the last thing I needed to do was stay up till four in the morning talking and making out with Arturius.

I'm not complaining that that's what I was doing though.

I just feel like an idiot forgetting everything like that. I wonder if that's how Buffy feels when Angel's there during her patrol in the cemetery. Does she forget everything and everyone but him? "Gothica, are you alright?" Ravel asks me. I look at him, and force myself to stop thinking about that TV show.

"Yeah, fine," I tell him. "Just thinking." He looks at me, unsure if I'm telling the truth. Ghastly and Tanith come into the office, and Ghastly doesn't even say anything before he hits the back of my head. "Ow." Ravel looks at him confused. I realize I hadn't seen him since yesterday morning, so he couldn't 'punish' me for making out with his son in a very inappropriate position. I start to laugh a bit, and Tanith casts me a look as if to say 'Shut it!' I stop laughing, and Ghastly looks at Ravel.

Skulduggery comes in next, and I realize I still don't know why I'm here. I swear if they all lecture me about last night, I am going to slap someone. "Alright, before anyone asks, all we did was kiss," I say. Tanith starts to chuckle, and Ravel and Skulduggery looks at me puzzled. "Oh, is that not what we're here for?" I ask.

"No Gothica, it isn't," Ghastly says, trying to hold in his laughter.

"We are now," Skulduggery says. "What do you mean 'all we did was kiss,' Gothica?" I blush and Ravel shakes his head.

"Skulduggery, shush. Gothica, you don't know why you're here do you?"

"No clue."

"I need to hear your version of what happened yesterday. It's not that Skulduggery's not reliable . . . actually it is that Skulduggery's not reliable." I smile at this and see Skulduggery shake his head. "We need to know exactly what happened yesterday. From the point you got to Gordon's house."

"Alright," I say. I tell them the story from when we got there and I felt the weird vibe, the door that opened by itself, the voice that called my name, Mum's hand coming from the wall, her request to show me something, and her attack on me.

"That doesn't sound like Val at all," Tanith says sadly.

"It does sound like Darquess though," Skulduggery points out. Tanith looks at him and I look at him too.

"Who's Darquess?" I ask. All the adults look at each other. "Who's Darquess?" I repeat.

"Some one you don't need to know about right now," Skulduggery quickly tells me. His voice is tough and rigid. "Let's just say she was evil. Extremely evil."

Okay something is defiantly going on. "Goth, trust us, you don't need to know about Darquess right now, love," Tanith says. "Don't feel like we're trying to keep things from you, it's just . . . there's some things that you need to know about now and some things that you don't need to know about yet." I nod, trying to make them believe that I understand, when I really don't. Trying to make them think I'm not extremely angry that they won't tell me.

I gaze at them and try to keep calm. "That's all I needed to know. Thank you, Gothica," Ravel tells me in a dismissive tone. I know he doesn't really like me. The first time we met, I sort of tackled him into a fountain because I thought he was trying to hurt Ekaterina not knowing he was Ghastly and Tanith's friend. He's never really gotten over that I guess. I nod, stand up, and walk out of his office.

Ekaterina and Arturius are waiting in the hallway. Arturius stands up when he sees me, but I just walk past him. "Goth, wait!" he calls. I stop and hear his footsteps on the polished sanctuary floor. "Hey, what's the matter now?" I look at him, and he must see the anger in my eyes because he takes a small step back to give me room. "What happened in there?"

"Nothing that matters to me," I say bitterly. He sighs and I start to walk again. He quickly catches up to me and I see him nod to a woman that walks by.

"Gothica, what did they say?"

"Nothing of importance. All that's important to me is that I still know basically nothing about my mother's past, and they mentioned some one named Darquess and they won't tell me who the hell Darquess is!" I shout. I keep walking with no destination in mind.

"Hey," Arturius starts gently. He puts his arms around my waist, causing me to stop walking. "I have an idea to get your mind off of everything. Let's get lunch."

"You mean, like a date?" I ask, my mood lightening up a bit at the mention of it.

"Yeah just the two of us. I know this place near the house that has amazing food. So, what do you say?" I give him a small smile and nod. I grab his hand the kiss his lips gently.

"Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10 Gothica

I teleport back to the house while kissing Arturius. He lets my waist go, and holds my hand, leading me down the street. As we walk, I realize we're at the "non-magical" part of town as Tanith calls it. We walk down a street and he pulls me into a small diner at the end of the block. It's cute with a 50's look to it-girls on roller skates with pink poodle skirts are waitresses, tiled flooring, and a jukebox. Arturius and I take a seat at a two-person table.

"So, what do you think?" he asks me. I look around again and smile.

"I like it," I tell him. He reaches across the table and holds my hand. I smile at him, while trying not to blush. We look at our menus in silence for a few minutes.

"Welcome," a cheery voice says next to us. "My name's Alice, I'll be your waitress for today." I look at her and she takes a double take when she looks at me. "Gothica?"

I don't know what to say to her. "Um, hi, Alice." I see Arturius look at me confused. To not be rude I say, "Alice, this is my boyfriend Arturius. Arturius, this is my aunt Alice."

"Hi," he says warmly.

"Hello," she responds. "So, what would it be for you two today?" she asks. I order a hamburger with fries and a chocolate milk shake. Arturius orders a salad (since he's a vegetarian) and a small glass of soda. "Alright then, it should only take a few minutes," Alice tells us. She looks at me and smiles sweetly, and then she skates off to hand in our orders.

"I didn't know you had an aunt," Arturius remarks. I look at him and roll my eyes.

"I didn't either until yesterday. I also found out my mum cheated on my dad when they were teenagers, and I have a dead uncle that Skulduggery likes to chat with." He laughs at this.

"How can Skulduggery talk to him if he's dead?"

"I don't know. How does Skulduggery walk, talk, and live?" I point out.

"Ah touché." We smile at each other. He goes on and tells me how Lev took him and helped him in training yesterday while I was out with Skulduggery.

"He seems like a good guy," I explain. Until this year, Arturius, Ekaterina, Ghastly, and I hadn't met Tanith's brother. He apparently travels a lot, and doesn't really make time for visiting his family. He's funny, smart, strong, and a huge prankster. I know that Tanith loves him, but I think she's ready to get rid of him already. Arturius and I talk about kids from school, Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly, and Ekaterina.

Before I know it, Alice is back with our food. "There you go. Anything else I can get you right now?" We both shake our heads and she nods. She begins to skate off, but turns back and looks at me. "Hey, so I told my parents about you. Not that you were with Skulduggery or anything like that. They want to meet their granddaughter, so if you ever want to come over, just you know, come."

"Alright," I say softly. I look up at her beautiful face and smile at her. "Thanks, Alice."

"You're welcome." Then without another word, she skates off.

"This is so hard!" Ekaterina complains. "I'm an artist, not a mathist!"

"Ekaterina, it's a mathematician, not a mathist," Arturius tells his little sister obviously annoyed.

"I don't care!" she snaps back. I forgot how mean she could get when you make her do math.

The three of us are sitting at the dining room table, working on the summer homework that Ghastly assigned us. "Daddy, do I have to do this?" she asks.

"For the hundredth time, yes," Ghastly tells her. Tanith walks over to her daughter and looks at the math sheet.

"It's not that hard," she tells Ekaterina.

"Yes it is!" she whines. I take a deep breath, letting her know that her whining is pushing my buttons. "How do I do this?" she looks at me and her mind goes to a complete different thought, "Why does Gothica get to read while I do math? That's not fair!"

I look at her. "It's because I did my math yesterday, Kat. Now, I'm doing my reading assignment," I explain. She glares at me and I role my eyes. She sticks her tongue out at me and I do the same to her.

"All right, that's enough both of you," Tanith says sternly. I go back to reading, when suddenly Tanith squeals. I look up at her and see that Ghastly's picked her up bridal style. I smile and look at Arturius who's trying to hide in his book due to the embarrassment of his parents.

The fact Ekaterina pointed out to me the other day pops into my head again 'I wonder why they aren't married yet.'

Tanith kisses Ghastly and wraps her arms around his neck. Ekaterina slouches in her chair and sighs dramatically. Arturius and I look at her. "What?" he asks in a frustrated tone.

"No one's helping me!" Then I hear the front door open and close and Lev walks into the room. He looks at Ghastly and Tanith and shakes his head disapprovingly. "Uncle Lev," Ekaterina says in a bigger whining tone. "no one will help me on my math!" Lev chuckles and walks over to her. He sits down and starts helping her. I go back to my reading and quickly finish my chapter. I put the book down and start doodling on my notebook. I end up drawing a cow that looks like it has a beaver tail. My mind is elsewhere though.

I can't stop thinking about Alice. She really wants me to stop by and meet my grandparents? From what I've heard of them they seem like nice people, but they disowned Mum so I'm not sure about that idea.

A few minutes later, Arturius puts down his book and rubs his head. "You alright?" Lev asks. Arturius nods.

"I just have a headache." Tanith comes into the room and looks at her son. Sometimes I forgot about his dyslexia.

"Do you need anything?" Tanith asks him. He shakes his head, but Tanith goes to the kitchen and gets him a glass of water anyways. "So, since it looks like all of you are done with homework, let's see how your days were." Tanith must have heard something that happened because she's obviously trying to hide frustration and anger. "Let's start with you, Ekaterina."

"Can we start with one of them first?" Ekaterina asks. She's obviously trying to hide something. Tanith looks at her, eyebrows raised. "I'm going to take that as a no." Tanith sits next to me across the table from her daughter. I look at Arturius and we both try not to laugh. How often was it that Ekaterina got the 'Evil Tanith Stare?' No one on Earth can lie to that. "Um," Ekaterina says. "What do you want to know about?"

"Well, I heard a little rumor that you were making out with a boy today." Ekaterina's eyes go wide and her cheeks burn bright red. Arturius just stares at his little sister. I could tell he was trying not to loose it.

"Well . . . it wasn't 'making out' more of a peck on the lips," Ekaterina stammers. Tanith shakes her head and sighs.

"We'll talk about that later," Tanith tells her. "So, what about you two? After the meeting you kind of disappeared," Tanith's voice is filled with worry and love. I look away from her. We hadn't really spoken since the meeting. We hadn't really spoken since they learned who my mother really was.

"We went to lunch," I say flatly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ghastly take a seat next to Tanith.

"I got to meet Gothica's aunt," Arturius explains. I close my eyes wishing he hadn't said that.

"Oh, really?" Tanith's voice is suddenly stiff. She's trying to keep the happiness in it. "What was Alice doing there?"

"She works there I guess," I tell them.

"Did she say anything of interest?" Ghastly asks.

I shrug. "She wants me to meet my grandparents." I could practically feel them tense up.

"And are you?" Arturius asks.

"Maybe. I might actually get to know more about my mum for once."

"You know, we'll tell you about her, Gothica," Tanith says, putting her hand on mine. I slowly slide mine out from under hers.

"When? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? You won't tell me anything!"

"Well what do you want to know?" Ghastly asks me. I sigh and look him straight in the eyes.

"Why she was murdered. Why random people seem afraid of her when she's mentioned. Who she was in this world. Anything really. Why she attacked me the other day. And why her parents disowned her."

Ghastly and Tanith look at each other- their eyes having a silent conversation. "Well, Gothica, we can't tell you about some of those questions either because we don't know the answer or because you're not ready to hear it." Anger suddenly flares up inside of me. I don't want to talk in fear that I'll lose control of my emotions. Instead, I think of a random place and teleport there.

I open my eyes and see I'm in an old dusty room. The walls are bright pink and there are toys and dolls littering the floor and wardrobe. There's a small bed under the window. It belonged to a little girl.

It belonged to me.

Three hours later, I'm sitting in the living room of my old house. The place is still a wreck from that night. There's stained blood on the carpet but the bodies were moved out of the house. Every room was dark and lifeless. I look at the small doll in my hand.

When I was little, this doll used to be my favorite. I would take it everywhere with me and hold it tight if I was upset. It has red hair tied into two ponytails, pale skin, and a blue dress on. Suddenly, I start crying. I still remember the day Mum gave me this doll. I was four and she had just gotten a new job. The job would take up a lot of her time and she would have been home late some nights. She told me that if I ever got lonely, sad, or angry to tell Suzie (the doll). She said that it would whisper to me what happened in my dream if I stayed really quiet during the night.

I only heard it three times. I hold Suzie to my chest, like I used to when I was little. I stare at the stain of my mother's blood on the carpet. Something was wrong with it. I walk closer to it oddly it looks fresh. Then it starts boiling. I scream and stumble back as a ghostly hand reaches out from the floor. I fall over the coffee table and watch as the hand pulls itself up to revel my mother. I scream again and she stars gliding towards me. "Gothica," she says quietly.

I don't even wait to hear what she has to say. I grab Suzie and close my eyes. The next thing I know, I'm in Tanith and Ghastly's room on their floor. Tanith's on her bed reading Ghastly had already fallen asleep. Tanith looks at him and rushes to me. I look at her and wrap my arms around her waist. Then I start balling my eyes out.


	11. Chapter 11 Tanith

"Tanith?" Gothica's small voice asks behind me. I turn and look at the teenage girl. She was clutching the same doll she had arrived in my room with last night in her hand.

"Hey, love. How are you feeling?" I ask walking over to her. She looks down and I lift her chin up with my palm. Her bright blue eyes are filled with tears. I get the image of her father in my mind. His eyes were the brightest blue eyes in the world. They were filled with the emotions he wanted to hide. I guess (as much as I hate to say it) he and Gothica are more alike than anyone thought. They both liked to act tough, but when it came to Valkyrie they were fragile.

I never liked Fletcher all that much. He was annoying- I mean take your annoying little sibling who's always whining and times that by three- that's Fletcher. I'm not saying that he wasn't a good kid. He was smart most of the time, kind, loving, funny, egotistical, and he had a great smile. I guess Gothica shares those traits.

I smile sadly, remembering the day I learned that Fletcher was blown up during his mission. I was last to know due to the remnant.

I look into Gothica's eyes again and an idea comes to mind. Just then Arturius, Ekaterina, and Ghastly come down the steps. I look at Ghastly smiling like a maniac. He looks at me wearily and I nod towards the living room. All the kids see this and rush to the living room knowing by the look on my face that there was something great coming.

Ghastly walks over to me and I wrap my arms around his neck. "What's going on?" he asks. I smile and kiss him.

"I think it's time we take a trip down memory lane," I say, rubbing my hands on his chest. He looks at me unsure. I grab his hand and pull him to the living room. Then I walk to the closet and I rummage around till I find the box filled with pictures of my friends. I walk back and sit in the middle of the floor. Gothica looks at me and sits on the ground to me, still holding that doll of hers.

"Mummy, what's going on?" Ekaterina asks me. She dashes over and sits next to Gothica. Slowly, Ghastly and Arturius walk over and sit around the box.

"Goth?" I say gesturing towards the box.

"Alright," she says, her voice still sounding sad. She reaches for the brown flaps and pulls them open. Inside is a bunch of pictures. Gothica picks the first one up and flips it over so she can see the picture. Her eyes light up in shock. She looks at me eyes wide. "I-is this m-my dad?" she asks holding out the picture for me to see. There it was, one of my favorite photos of Valkyrie and Fletcher. He had teleported the three of us to France and he gave me the camera and swooped Valkyrie up in his arms in front of the Eiffel Tower. I was sort of surprised by her reaction to it. Hadn't she seen a picture of her own father?

"Yeah, that's him," Ghastly says his voice filled with annoyance. "He was . . . special." I looked at my boyfriend and laughed while punching him playfully. "It's true. Don't deny it, Tanith." I looked at him and he leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the cheek.

All day my family and I were looking through the pictures. I couldn't stop from crying here and there when I would tell the kids a memory that has always meant a lot to me. All day I watched Gothica laugh and look at the pictures of her parents. I didn't tell her the main memories-like big missions that involved all of us saving the world or anything about Darquess. She still isn't ready for those. Ghastly and I told her about the memories that involved small missions like stakeouts and Vaurien Scapegrace (before he became "good" and started working for the Sanctuary). We told her of times where all of us would just sit around and laugh and play games.

Before we all knew it, Lev had come home from the meeting he had with some client. I look at the clock and see it's already six-thirty. I walked to the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

I leaned against the fridge and let out a long and quiet sigh. It was hard to go back and remember these photos and memories. I know that I need to do it more often or else I'll never get over Val's death, but when she died, I lost my sister. I close my eyes and remember the day we first met in China's library.

She was so little and unsure then. Back then; I never thought that she would be killed. I never would have guessed that she was supposed to be the destroyer of the world. And I never would have guessed her best friend would be an egotistical skeleton detective.

Since she was twelve, we were close. She was always smart, sweet, funny, kind, amazing, beautiful, brave, and strong. She was a four year old on the inside, there's no denying that. I smile as I remember the first mission we had together. We went through a lot together over the years.

I feel a coldness wrap around me like an embrace. It was welcoming in a strange way. I open my eyes when I hear the faint whisper of, "I love you, Tanith." There wasn't anyone there, but I knew who it was.

"Val?" I say softly. I feel the coldness let go of my waist and grab my hands. I can see a slight shimmer in the air that's shaped like a person. Slowly the shape takes form and becomes denser so I can make out details. It was her. "Val," I explain. She puts her finger to her mouth as if to tell me to be quiet.

"Tanith," her voice is like the wind. It's faint, but noticeable. "Let her go. She can't stay here much longer or else someone's going to get killed," Valkyrie explains. I look at her and then at my family.

"What do you mean?" I ask. I start to think that this is just my imagination, but when she tries to put her hand on the counter and it goes through I know it's real.

"Tanith, just do this for me. Sanguine, he's free you know that. He's working for him."

"For who?" I ask.

"The man who sent those men to kill me. But they failed. I'm not dead, Tanith. My spirit is still here. It's scattered all over and only Gothica can help me. But in order for her to do that, you need to let her go. You need to accept the fact that she can't stay here forever-you've known that from the start." I can feel my eyes water.

"I can't," I say softly. Valkyrie locks her dark eyes on mine.

"You have to."

I hesitate and look back at Gothica. Her dark hair, and pale skin making her look just like her mother did. I know Valkyrie's right. When I first brought Gothica home, I knew something was going to ruin it. I knew that she wouldn't stay with us. "Fine," I say sadly. "But you have to answer me this one question," I tell her.

"What?" Val asks me, cocking her head slightly to the side.

"Who killed you?" I ask her.

Suddenly, I can see the hatred fill her eyes and face. I can see her form start to fade. "Valkyrie, who killed you?" I say quickly but quietly needing the answer before she left.

"Salomon Wreath." Then, she fades to nothing. I stand there unsure of what to do. Wreath? He killed her?

Slowly, I walk out of the kitchen. Ghastly looks up at me. "You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." I look at him and at Gothica. I know the could tell I was about to cry, but I didn't care right now.

"Ghastly," I say, my voice shaky. "Can you schedule a meeting for me?"

"Um, yeah, with who?"

"Salomon Wreath."

"What's this about, Miss. Low?" Salomon Wreath asks as he walks into the questioning room. His dark hair was combed back and he was wearing his normal dark Necromancy clothing. His walking cane was surrounded with shadows.

"It's about Valkyrie Cain's murder," I say sharply. He looks at me and chuckles.

"And what about it?"

"Where were you that night, Wreath?" He looks at me with shock and disbelief.

"That was eight years ago. How on earth am I supposed to remember that, Tanith?" I look him in the eyes and he averts his gaze for a split second. "I would guess I was home that night."

"You sure?" he shrugs. "A shrug doesn't cut it, Salomon. Where were you?"

"By all due respects, Tanith, I don't know what you're getting at," he points out.

"Stop this crap, Salomon!" I yell. I know that my anger is getting the best of me, but I couldn't help it. You try seeing your best friend that's supposed to be dead again and have her tell you who killed her without being angry.

"What on earth do you mean?"

"I'll say this very slowly. You. Killed. Your. Friend." I can see how agitated he looks when I say this. "Didn't you?" He looks towards the door of the room. "You can't escape, Wreath. There's two cleavers out side that door. Anyways, didn't you ever hear the term 'doors are for people with no imagination?'" I ask him. He looks at me and I smile at his scowl. "Now, tell me, you non-imaginative person, did you or didn't you kill Valkyrie?"

"No." I sigh getting frustrated with him. I hate him. I've always hated him. He never had my complete trust, but he had Val's and I couldn't talk her out of it. He was the one who taught her Necromancy. He was her mentor. He was her friend.

And now, he was her murderer.

"Even if I did kill her- which I didn't mind you- you don't have proof do you, Miss. Low?" Wreath asks me. "Anyways I thought this case was closed. Now, why are you questioning me if it's not a case any longer?" I look at him.

"I got a lead. I followed it. Actual case or not, I am going to find out who killed my friend."

"Then what? You'll obviously track them down. But then what? Through them in jail? Kill them? Let that little monster of a remnant inside of you take control and kill them in the most painful way?" I quickly grab onto him and flip him around, pinning his hand to his back and his body to the wall. He crossed the line with that last remark.

I feel the searing pain on my back again-the pain that happens whenever I'm extremely pissed. I haven't felt it since I found Val dead. Back then I almost lost it. He snickers knowing he's right.

"What will you do, Tanith?"

"Shut up, you dumb ass," I hiss into his ear. "Now, answer my question truthfully and I won't have to call in the Cleavers to arrest you for lying to the law."

"I'm not lying."

"I think you are. And who do you think the Elders will listen to? Me- one of their detectives and the girlfriend of Elder Bespoke, or, you- a Necromancer who has a past of lying?" I can feel him tense up and I know he knows the answer to the question. "So, are you going to tell me the truth?"

"You really are stubborn."

"I like to think of that as a complement, Salomon."

"Alright, I'll tell you. I didn't kill Valkyrie Cain."

"Do you want to test that theory?" I ask flipping him so he could face me.

"And how would we do that? Do you have a video?"

"Nope. I have something better than that. I can see the question in his eyes. "I have an eye witness."


	12. Chapter 12 Skulduggery

Even before I enter Ghastly's office I can feel his stress. I knock on the door and hear some shuffling on the other side. Soon, the door is opened and an agitated Ghastly is staring me in the face- I mean skull. He beckons for me to come in. I do expecting Gothica or Tanith to be in there. When they aren't I look at Ghastly. "Do you know any reason Tanith would want a meeting with Salomon Wreath?" my friend asks me.

"What?"

"Earlier today Tanith the kids and I were looking at pictures from the past. Then Tanith went to make dinner. A few minutes later, she walks out of the kitchen completely distraught and about to cry. Then she asks me to set up a meeting with Wreath. Do you know why?" he explains. I shake my skull having no idea on what Tanith's getting at.

I sit in the leather chair on one side of the room. "She probably just had some questions for him," I say trying to calm him down.

"Questions about what?" Ghastly's frantic and I sigh knowing what's coming next.

"She's not cheating on you," I tell him before he can say anything else. "Especially not with Wreath. That would just be . . . gross. It's like an alligator dating a giraffe. It just doesn't work." He looks at me. "Obviously Tanith would be the alligator because alligators are cool and giraffes are just odd little creatures," I add on.

"Giraffes aren't 'little creatures', Skull. They're big creatures," Ghastly corrects me.

"Well fine then. Be technical, Mr. I-have-no-imagination-when-my-girlfriend-is-questioning-an-awful-man. God, some people these days." I look up at my friend and see him scowling at me. "Well, at least I didn't name you 'Mr. Grumpy Bear' like Ravel did the night you and Tanith got together." I see him smile at this. "Anyways on to the reason I came here to talk to you." Ghastly sits down in the chair across from me, ready to listen to what I have to say. "It's about Valkyrie."

"What about her?" He leans forward, curious at what I have to say.

"I think I've figured something out about her ghost. So Gothica has seen her at your house and Gordon's house. And I swear I hear her crying and laughing in my house and in the Bentley."

"Oh, don't forget last night when Gothica apparently teleported to her house in Colorado and Valkyrie's ghost was there too." I look at him, surprised by this. "Did Tanith not call you? She said she was going to." I shake my head in response. "Well, Gothica did. I don't know all the details so you'll have to ask her. All I know is it freaked her out badly. She found this doll of hers from when she was little and she hasn't really let go of it since she got back."

"Alright, I should look into that, but later. Now, Ghastly, tell me, what's the connection between all those places?" I lean towards Ghastly. I ask helping him catch up with my idea.

"Um, they were all important to her," he says unsure.

"Yes, that's true, but what I was thinking about is that something big happened to her while she was alive at those places. You're house is over you're shop where she met you. Gordon's house was the place I met her and the place where her magical life started. It was also the place where Darquess stared to take her over without having to use some ghost or spirit. My house was the place she and I would go to after a case and relax. The Bentley, well hell there's to many important things that happened in there to list. And her house in Colorado was where she moved to when Fletcher died and was the place where she was murdered," I explain.

"So what?" Ghastly asks. I lean back and take a deep breath. I knew he became really dumb and slow when he's worried about Tanith, but it doesn't make it less frustrating to have to explain things to him.

"Her ghost, it seems to react to the events that happened there in the past. At my house she's sad- indicating all the times she was there while I was in the Faceless One's world. At Gordon's she was murderous- which means it could be Darquess's ghost. In the Bentley she was laughing which is self-explanatory since I was so very humorous while we were in the car. At your house she seems normal, that's because she didn't have anything bad really happen there. Her house in Colorado-we can't decide what she was feeling there because we don't know what happened with her and Gothica. We can guess though that it's anger, and pain. But that's not the only places where something important happened" Ghastly looks at me.

"Where else did something important happen?"

"Oh many places. But there's a connection. Magic."

"Magic," he repeats. I nod. "Where else did something important involving magic happen?" He pauses for a few moments. "There's another connection, Skulduggery."

"And what's that?"

"Tanith, you, and me- the people who were with her from the first week she started this crazy life. All of those places have very precious memories that involve at least one of us. There are other places too. China's library- that's where she met Tanith. The bay where we picked her up a lot. We should see if she's there too," he explains. I was surprised that he thought of that and I hadn't.

"Exactly."

"Alright, I understand all of it, but why did you want to talk to me about it?"

"I want to open the case again. I think we can reach her in one of those places. All we need to do is know which one."

Just then, the door opens and Tanith and Gothica walk in. Tanith's furious and Gothica just looks terrified. "You're too late on that. Salomon Wreath did it, with his Necromancy, in Valkyrie's living room," Tanith says taking the seat next to Ghastly.

"This isn't Clue, Tanith," I say irritated with her and her constant jokes.

She looks at me. "Oh whatever, Skulduggery. The important thing is that Salomon Wreath killed her."

"Why?" Ghastly asks. I look at Gothica and she looks at me. I raise my arm and she slowly walks over to me and I put it around her when she sits on the arm of my chair.

"Fear. Wreath said that some man in a mask, gloves, and suit came up to him and gave him a job. He said that Darquess was going to come out again, and the only way to avoid that was by killing Val."

Gothica stood up quickly. "What did my mum have to do with this Darquess person? Why was she killed for that person's mistakes?" I put my hand on her arm and she looks at me again. I shake my head telling her to stop.

"So, let me get this straight, Wreath was told by a man in a mask that Darquess would rise again, so he killed Valkyrie right?" Ghastly asks. Tanith nods. "Then could this man be the one who sent the attack on Gothica the other day?" I look at Gothica again and see her jaw tighten.

"That would be a safe guess," I say. I look at Ghastly and he nods already knowing what I was going to do. "Gothica, we have a theory of finding who killed you mother, but I need you to help us. Do you remember the bay I took you to?" She nods at this. "What about China's library?"

"Yeah," she says meekly.

"I need you to take me to both of those places. I need to see if Valkyrie shows up at those places too." She nods in understanding and she grabs my hand. Suddenly we're teleported to the bay.

We stay there for three hours, trying everything to get Valkyrie's attention. When she doesn't show, we decide to head to China's library.

I knock on the apartment door across the hallway from the library. Gothica decided to stay in the library to see if she could connect with her mum there. I was sent to talk to China and find out if she knew anything about the mystery man in the mask. After a minute, China opens the wood door and smiles when she sees me. "Never thought I would see you here alone, Skulduggery Pleasant."

"Gothica's across the hall, so if you try something, I wouldn't suggest it," I say bitterly. I still hate her guts for being part of the plan that killed my family, but Ghastly made me suck it up so we could get missions done. "I need some information."

"Then you've come to the right place." She steps back inside her apartment and I observe the indigo gown she's wearing. It was pretty and fit her in a good way. Her raven black hair fell in tight curls around her shoulders. I walk in and sit down on the couch. It felt weird to be here alone and with her again. "Well, what do you seek?"

"What have you heard of a man in a mask?" I ask. She looks at me puzzled.

"A man in a mask? Well there are many of those."

"What about a man in a mask that's evil?"

I could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Nothing," she says, her voice heavy with worry. "What is this about?"

"Nothing of your concern, China. What about a ghost showing up in different places and acting differently in each of them?" While I was here, it might be useful to see what she knew about the topic.

"Well, I don't know about one ghost, but there are stories of a person's ghost that was, well ripped apart and spread around the world. The part of the ghost normally reacts to an event that happened there in the past. Why?"

"Like I said, nothing."

"Skulduggery, what's going on?" she asks. I look into her bright blue eyes. They showed so much concern. "Is this about Valkyrie? Is her ghost spread all over?"

"Yes," I say sadly. I look away from the beautiful woman in front of me. I hear her move and she crouches in font of me.

"The stories say that if the ghost is ripped apart, the person is not actually dead." I look at her and she smiles slightly. "I remember reading about this when I was young. If a Necromancer has strong enough magic, they can rip their souls apart and put each part in a place. Then the ghost reacts to the past events. It's said that if a person can capture each part of the ghost at the same time, the person will come back to life. Skulduggery, if this is what happened to Valkyrie, there's a chance that we can bring her back," China explains.

"I can get her back. You're not helping," I say standing up forcing her to back up.

"Skulduggery, I cared for Valkyrie too. I want to-"

"No, China. You lost the trust of both of us years ago." I start walking towards the door. I was done with her.

"Skulduggery, I regret doing that. If I had known what you would end up meaning to me, I never would have done that to you." This makes me stop. I don't turn around to look at her.

"What?"

I can hear the smile in her voice. "You're the detective, Mr. Pleasant. You tell me what I mean." I know what she means. She loves me, or at least did. She obviously knows that I don't feel the same way.

"Goodbye, China," I tell her. I grip the door handle and just as I'm about to open it, she calls my name. "What?" I snap, spinning on my heels to look at her beautiful face and intense eyes.

"Just remember war isn't pretty. It's harsh, and everyone does things they regret. I'm not the only who killed people others loved, you did it too." I turned around back to the door. I open the wooden door and see Gothica standing in the hall looking at a painting on the wall. "Goodbye, Skulduggery," I hear China say sadly as I close the door behind me. I didn't care for her, but I still couldn't help but feel guilty for making her upset. She was right, I shouldn't be mad, but I couldn't help it.

"You alright?" Gothica asks. I look at her.

"Yeah. Any ghost activity?" I ask. Gothica nods.

"She's not the same woman that tried to kill me that's for sure. She seemed . . . happy," Gothica tells me. I look at the door to the library.

"She was in there when she met Tanith for the first time."

"Oh. So did China have anything good to say?" I shrug.

"Let's go," I say. I didn't want to get Gothica's hopes up with the idea that her mum could come back alive. First I needed to figure out how to capture all the pieces of her at the same time. Then I need to figure out if we've found all of her. It was hard, but there was something inside of me telling me that I could do it.

If I could, I would get my best friend back.

That night, I told Ghastly, Mist, Ravel, and Tanith the story that China told me. They said I needed to tell Gothica it, so reluctantly I did. We all sat in the meeting hall in silence. Mist decided she would leave and do something "productive" in her time. Now, it was just most of the people close to Valkyrie, which made the idea of her coming back even harder to think about. "So, what do we do?" Gothica asks.

"I don't know," I say sighing. I could feel the eyes of everyone on me. "What?" I snap. "I don't have the answer to everything damn it!" I yell.

"Skull, calm down," Ravel says. "If this story is true, then we can get her back. We just need to figure out how." Suddenly, Tanith sits straight up in her chair. "What?" We all look at her.

She looks at Ghastly, "Do you remember when Art was eight and we showed him the Soul Catcher?" she asks.

"Um, I think," Ghastly says unsure.

"He said something about changing the design of it to make it better and more useful. Like being able to capture more than one soul and stuff."

"Are you sure I was there?" Ghastly asks confused. Tanith rolls her eyes and turns towards me.

"Arturius is a mechanical wizard. He might be able to do something with the Soul Catcher to make it, I don't know, make it have a larger span so we know for sure that we can capture her."

Ravel nods in agreement. "We still need to figure out how to capture all of her at the same time though."

"We get someone at every place and have them press the button at the same time," Ghastly suggests.

"You need to remember someone wanted her dead. We can't be sure that they won't try to stop one of us," Tanith points out. For some reason, I don't have an opinion.

"We don't let anyone but us and Arturius know about this. The bad guys won't know about it if we keep it secret," Ghastly remarks.

"I have a better idea," Ravel says. We look at him.

"Maybe we have a timer on each Soul Catcher. Each one has a different timer set a few seconds apart. Then, we have Gothica teleport to each place and press each button. We would set the timers so they would go off at the same time. That way, we don't have to exactly worry about the whole bad guys spoiling our plans thing."

I look at Gothica and see she's looking at the table. "What do you think about that, Goth?" Tanith asks.

"I guess, I mean, it's to get her back, so that's fine with me," the teenage girl says.

"So, for Gothica's sake, what places is she at?" Ghastly asks as he looks at me for the answer.

"Gordon's house, my house, your house, my Bentley, China's library, and her house in Colorado. She's not at her grave, here, or at the bay. We would have heard about it by now," I answer. Ghastly and Ravel nod. "We don't know if those are all the places though."

"Well, where else would she be at?" Tanith asks. I could tell she was getting happy. I look at Gothica, an idea forming in my head.

"What?" she asks me.

"I only have one idea of where else she'll be," I say. Gothica looks at me wanting me to explain more. "Only you can get there though."

"Where?" she asks me.

"You're grandparent's house." I see Tanith go wide-eyed at this idea. Gothica looks around at everyone, obviously unsure of what to say or do. "Lot's of things happened there, she was attacked multiple times, she was almost killed many times, her reflection lost it on her, her parents disowned her, she broke up with your father the first time, and then got back together with him."

Gothica looks at me like I'm crazy. "What?"

"What?"

"W-wha-how-uh- never mind," she says frustrated that she couldn't explain. If I had lips I would be smiling at this girl. "Fine, I'll go tomorrow," she mutters.

"You don't seem excited," I say.

"If my mum tries to kill me there, I will hurt you," she growls at me. I see Tanith and Ghastly smile and I nod.

"Then let's hope she doesn't try to kill you." She shoots me the death glare at this.

"You, know, you're ego's as big as the Sun," she mumbles.

"Says the one with the hair that makes it looks like she's bleeding," I mumble back.

"It does not!" she says, in a playful tone.

"Yes it does," I say with a flat voice. Suddenly, she's out of her chair and I feel something push me off mine. I look up from my landing place on the floor and see her standing over me.

"You dealt with my father, Skulduggery. You should know not to piss off the Teleporter."

"Sadly, he never learned that lesson," I hear a man's British voice say.

"Oh my god," I hear Tanith breath. Gothica turns around and even from here I could tell the pale look on her face. I stand up to see who just spoke.

"So, what dangerous plan are we planning now?" Fletcher Renn asks.


	13. Chapter 13 Gothica

My breath catches as I look at the extremely handsome man in front of me. His eyes are blue like mine, his skin is bronze, and his hair is really weird and blonde. I've seen him in Tanith's pictures but I never met him before.

He's my dad.

"Fletcher?" Tanith asks breaking the awkward silence around us.

"The one and only, Tanith," my father says back giving her a wink of the eye and a cocky smile. Everyone stays silent as we look at the man who should be dead.

Involuntarily, I step forward. "Dad?" I ask softly. He looks at me and his face goes ghost white. Apparently, Skulduggery noticed this to, because he pulls me back.

"Fletcher, let me introduce you to Gothica Rose, you're daughter," he says sternly. "Gothica, this is your father-who should be dead- Fletcher Renn." I couldn't help the small smile from appearing on my face. My father? Alive? I don't know how, but I don't really care.

I try to take a step towards him, but Skulduggery pulls me back again. "Um, hi," my dad says quietly.

"Hi," I say, almost unable to hold in the happiness inside of me.

"I'm sorry to cut this introduction short, but Fletcher how the hell are you here?" Ravel asks getting up.

"Um, well, you see, that's a funny story really," he stumbles.

"Humor us then," Tanith says. I look at her and can see the anger rising. My dad starts laughing. It sounds forced and uncomfortable. "We're waiting,"

"Well, you see-"

"You faked it didn't you?" Skulduggery interrupts him.

"What? No!" my dad says. I see Tanith pull out her sword and start cleaning it. I know she meant it as a threat to chop him up, "Alright, yes, but I had my reasons."

"Like what?" Ghastly asks.

Skulduggery pushes me down into the chair behind me. He keeps his hands on my shoulders as if I would run away. I look up at him, but he keeps his gaze on my dad. I look back at my father and see him looking at me. "God, you look like your mother," he mutters.

"Um, thanks," I say back. He nods and looks back at Tanith.

"And I just realized you're here and not a remnant I presume. You look at beautiful as ever," he says. Tanith smiles.

"Sorry, Fletcher, I'm taken," she says back.

"Damn," he says sarcastically. Tanith rolls her eyes and smiles. He turns back towards Skulduggery. "And you still look like a skeleton." I can feel the tension between the two of them. I remember Tanith and Ghastly telling me how the two of them hated each other. I can feel Skulduggery's hands tighten on my shoulders.

"So, are you going to tell us about why you faked your death? Or do I have to make you tell us?" Skulduggery says angrily. It's so like him to get to the point of a conversation no matter what he has to do to get there.

"No, it's none of your business."

"Well, I think it's Gothica's business figuring she's your daughter." Dad looks at me and then looks down.

For the next ten minutes Skulduggery and Dad argue about whither or not he should tell us, finally Dad gives in and shouts, "Because of her!" he says pointing at me. I freeze. "Val had her, when I told her I didn't want a child, especially a girl! I didn't want to deal with all of the drama that comes with a girl! I already had to deal with that through Valkyrie!"

I watched as Tanith stands up protectively, but Ghastly holds her back. "Why not just leave her?" she asks.

I was frozen and silent. I feel the tears in my eyes, but I push them away before they have a chance to come out.

"I loved her to much, that's why. Valkyrie was the world to me, and I couldn't leave her not like that."

"So you faked her death, because?" Tanith pushes.

"Because, Tanith, I couldn't stand the thought of her thinking that I didn't love her. By dieing she still had the idea that I loved her- which mind you I still do."

"Why come back?"

"I missed her. I thought that maybe . . . the girl wouldn't be here and maybe living somewhere else." Already, I was done with this crap. I pushed away Skulduggery's hands and stood up.

"Gothica, sit back down," Skulduggery orders. I don't listen. I walk past my dad not even looking at him and walk out the door.

I slam the door to the meeting room behind me. That was not what I was expecting from my father. I guess he is as irresponsible as Skulduggery said. I can't help but wonder why the hell my mother would love him? Just from that small conversation, I can tell he's arrogant, egotistical, cowardly, and just . . . weird. What did my mother see in him?

I lean against the brick wall and slink to the ground. I rest my forehead on my knees and let my hair fall around my face, so that people couldn't see the tears. I silently sob and if anyone sees my shoulders racking, they don't do anything.

After about twenty minutes of sobbing, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I slowly look up and see Vaurien Scapegrace. I'm surprised that he's the first person to talk to me. I mean we never talk.

You see, he's awkward and kind of dumb, but he's a good person once you get to know him (even if he used to say he was the Killer Supreme). Tanith still finds it weird that the Elders let him work here. He tried to kill Mum multiple times from my understanding, but after he came back from being a bodiless zombie (yes, he was a zombie), he changed and became good.

He wraps his skinny arm around my shoulders and pulls me into him. I can't help but smile slightly at this kind jester. We sit there, not saying anything but it's still comforting.

I look at him and notice not for the first time that he really is handsome. He has red hair, green eyes, pale skin, and a cute smile. He's tall, slender, and not very strong, but that doesn't really matter. He looks at me and smiles. I put my head on his shoulder and he gives my shoulders a little squeeze.

"Vaurien," I say. He looks at me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he says back to me. "So," he says after an exasperated sigh. "Heard you met your aunt and she want you to meet your grandparents."

"How?" I ask a bit surprised that he knows.

He looks at me. "Clarabelle heard it from Tanith and I heard it from her."

"Oh," I mutter. I always forget how close him and Clarabelle are. They technically aren't dating, but I think in a way they are. They're both extremely socially awkward, and neither of them are super bright, but they're both good people. After Thrasher- Vaurien's best friend- died during the same mission my father supposedly died during, the only one truly there for Vaurien was Clarabelle.

"So, are you going to meet them?" he asks. I shrug, thinking about telling him about the 'cure' for Mum, but quickly decided against it. Skulduggery said I need to go to their house, but I really don't want to. He makes a sound as if he's thinking. "You should. Your mum talked a lot about them and they seem like generally good people. Even if they don't approve of magic, and monsters, and adventure, and well basically anything in our lives, they seem nice." I smile at this. "What?"

"Nothing," I say. He sighs over dramatically and I nudge him with my shoulder. Even if he was dumb most of the time, he knew how to cheer someone up.

"You know, I just realized something," he mumbles.

"And what's that?" I ask. He looks down the hall at the door where Tanith and Skulduggery where passing through.

"Skulduggery told me Tanith is a brain sucker, but she's not! He lied to me!" I look at him confused and then I start to laugh. He looks at me. "It's not funny," he mutters. I immediately force myself to stop laughing, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Hey, you two," Tanith says cautiously. I look up at her and she smiles like she does whenever I'm upset.

"Hey," Vaurien and I say at the same time.

"Sooooo, Goth, how about we go home and we can talk, you know girl to girl," Tanith offers.

"Um, actually, I . . ." I look at Vaurien and he nods. "I have plans."

"With who?" Skulduggery asks walking up behind Tanith.

I look up at them and feel the bravery start to build as I realize what I'm about to do. "With my grandparents."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Skulduggery mummers. I look at him.

"I told you I could just teleport here!" I say. We're sitting in the Bentley outside the house of my grandparents.

Tanith's sitting in the back of the car and I look at her. "She did," she points out. Skulduggery looks back at her and I know it was meant as a glare. She gives him a smug smile. Then her smile melts into something sadder. "You know, they may have disowned Val, but I think they might want to know that she might be alive."

"I was thinking that," Skulduggery says thoughtfully. "And it won't be a good idea for Gothica to tell them since they would have just met." I nod not even thinking about that.

"You know, you're going to have to do it, Brainless. They think I'm a school teacher," Tanith says. I look back at her and she waves off my confusion. Skulduggery hesitates for a moment before grabbing his gun and putting it on the dashboard.

"Fine, but if you hear me scream you have to come and save me." I watch as he gets out of the car and slowly walk across the street.

I look back at Tanith and notice she's looking at the gun with a dreamy expression. "What's up?" I ask her. She looks up at me like I just slapped her in the face. "Are you okay?"

"He'll never admit it, but he really loved your mum, Gothica," Tanith suddenly tells me. She smiles sadly.

We turned and watched Skulduggery look at my grandparents' house. "'You're my partner. My best friend. I love you' she would tell him whenever they would fight. She did love him, but he never knew that. When she died, you could practically see him die with her. They were two people who shared everything. When she was sad, he could cheer her up. When he was angry, she could calm him down. They were the best team ever," Tanith explains. I nod and watch as Skulduggery knocks on their door. Again, questions start wheeling in my head. I want to know more about my mum, and more about what Skulduggery was like before she died. Maybe now, Tanith would tell me.

"Tanith?" She looks at me and I take a deep breath before I say; "What was their first case together?" I can see the surprise of this question on Tanith's face. Then, her face softens and she smiles. "And don't tell me I'm not ready. I'll find out soon one way or another."

"Yeah, I know." My eyes meet hers and he smile turns sly. "I'll tell you, but you need to know that it's one hell of a story." I smile, joy rising inside of me.

I see her look at the house again and her face is filled with shock. Suddenly, she grabs the door handle and pushes it open. I look at the house just in time to see a man in about his fifties or so push Skulduggery. I jump out of the car and follow Tanith across the street. "Desmond!" a woman about the same age calls. "Desmond, stop that!"

I jog across the street just as Alice steps out the door. "Dad!" She steps between the two men and pushes her father back. She looks at Skulduggery and Tanith. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"He says that Stephanie's still alive! It's bull!" the man named Desmond yells.

"Dad, shut up!" Alice yells back.

I get to where Tanith is and another man about Desmond's age steps out of the door along with two women. Alice looks back at Skulduggery and sees me. "Gothica, hi," she says meekly.

"Um, hi," I say. Alice takes a deep breath and pulls Skulduggery to the side. We all watch as they have a hushed conversation. Soon, they walk back towards us.

"Tanith, let's go," he orders.

"What? Why?"

"Gothica needs to meet her family, we don't need to be here for that. Gothica, after you're done just teleport home alright?"

"Uh, okay." Everything's happening so fast today that I have no idea what's going on. I watch as Tanith and Skulduggery walk back to the Bentley, get in, and drive away. I turn back towards Alice and the others and smile shyly.

"Mum, dad, Fergus, Beryl, I want you to meet Gothica Rose, Stephanie's daughter," Alice introduces. Each one of the adults say hello except for Desmond.

"Des, say hello," Melissa, Alice's mother says. Desmond looks at me then looks down. "Desmond,"

"I'm going for a walk," he says quickly then he walks off.

Melissa and Fergus sigh. "Why don't you come in," Melissa says.

"Alright," I reply looking back at Desmond who's walking away still.

I follow them inside the house. I'm too nervous to make out details except the fact that the carpet is a blue color. They walk to what seems to be the living room and Alice jesters me to sit down next to her. I do and suddenly all eyes are on me.

"So, you're Steph's daughter?" Fergus asks. I nod and he chuckles while crossing his arms in front of his chest. "And by the eyes, I guessing that Fletcher boy too." I feel the anger suddenly rise up from earlier. I nod, not trusting myself to speak to this. "You're oddly quiet."

"Fergus," Alice snaps. She looks at me and puts her hand on mine. She has great hospitality, but I couldn't help but feel like it's fake. "So, Gothica, how old are you?"

"Um, sixteen," I say quietly.

"What's your actual name?" Beryl asks, her voice shape toned.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The name Stephanie gave you when you were born, what is it?"

"Oh, um," It's been so long since I've told anyone that name that I've almost forgotten it. "Eve," I tell them.

"Eve? Is it all right if we call you by that instead? None of us approve of that . . . magic stuff," she explains.

"Sure," I say, trying to keep the screaming voice inside of my head there and not out in the open.

"So, this thing about Stephanie being alive still, is it true?" Melissa asks me.

"Yeah, we think it is."

"You think?" Beryl snaps.

"It's an old story, but it makes sense once you look at the facts."

"And what are those?"

"I'm not allowed to say," I tell them. Beryl sighs. Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking comes from the kitchen. All the adults look at each other and I stand up quickly. "I-I'll go look," I say.

"You don't need to, it was probably just the wind knocking a plate over," Alice says.

"Maybe, but I'll go look anyways." I make my way to the kitchen before one of them can say anything else.

There, I look around and see the glass plate shattered on the floor. The wind theory would work except for the fact that the window's closed. "Mum?" I whisper softly. I feel coldness on my arms and I know she's here. "Mum?"

Slowly her form appears like it did in China's library. She looks out the window and I follow her gaze. Outside, at the street, is a man wearing a suite. He has blonde hair and sunglasses despite the fact that it's night. "Who is that?" I whisper.

"Billy-Ray Sanguine," Mum says back. I look at her, realizing this is the first time she's talked to me while in 'ghost form'. "Gothica, don't let him near you. He'll kill you." I look at her then back at the man. I see him smile wickedly. He suddenly sinks into the ground. My eyes go wide at this. "That's the only reason it took Skulduggery so long to capture him. He could get out of basically anything. If he comes near you, get away from him as fast as possible."

"Then should I get Skulduggery?" I ask. Suddenly, Mum goes silent and she seems to become sad.

"No, don't get him," she tells me.

"Why not?"

She turns to me. "You need to stop relying on him and he others. You need to separate yourself from them. Someone's going to get killed if you don't leave. People are after you, evil people. And I'm sorry for that. It's my fault, but I can't change what happened in the past."

"Do you know who sent them after us?" I ask. She shakes her head and I feel my spirits fall. "How is someone going to die if I don't leave?"

"Just trust me. If you don't separate yourself personally from them, the bad guys are going to go after them to get to you. It's happened to Skulduggery and me before, and it's not fun." Then, her shape starts to fade.

"Mum?"

She looks at me. "I'll see you soon, love." Then she disappears. I hear someone from the other room start to walk in and quickly I grab my cell phone and pull it out.

"Everything okay?" Alice asks, walking in. I look up from my phone and smile.

"Yeah, just got into a conversation with a friend. She just learned that her boyfriend cheated on her," I lie.

"Oh, sorry about that. So was it the wind that knocked the plate over?"

"Uh, yeah." I look out the window again and see Sanguine across the street.

Alice must see him too because she asks, "Who's that?"

"No clue," I lie.

"Okay," Alice says unsure. "So, why don't you leave the plate there, and we'll pick it up later. Come join us, I think Mum wants to know more about you."

"Um, alright," I say, following her back into the living room.

I lay in my bed. The talk with my family was a bit odd, but I learned more of how my mother was at home. She seemed nice and sweet.

The words from Mum keep repeating in my head, "Someone's going to get killed if you don't leave them. Separate yourself personally from them, the bad guys are going to go after them to get to you."

She's probably just over reacting. I don't know though. All I do know is that I'm not going to leave them no matter what she says.


	14. Chapter 14 Tanith

"Dear," Ghastly calls from the front door.

"In here," I reply from the kitchen. I turn around just to bump into him. "Hi," I say.

"Hi," he says back kissing my cheek.

"How'd last night go?" He, Skulduggery, Ravel, and Arturius all stayed at the Sanctuary all night working on the new designs for the Soul Catchers.

"Good. Art really knows what he's talking about." I smile and put my arms around my love's neck.

I'm always asked why we aren't married. My answer is not just because he hasn't asked me, but also because we're happy like this. I wouldn't mind being married at all, but everything in our lives are amazing. We're happy together, we have two great kids, and we've adopted Gothica. I do wish he wouldn't work as much though, that's the only complaint I have.

"Do you think we'll actually get her back?" I ask.

"If the stories are true, yeah."

I can feel the coldness next to me and I know that Val's there. I hadn't told anyone about her, but I don't think it's going to matter. I know I said I'd let Gothica go, but honestly, that's not going to happen.

"Well, what changes are there?" I ask.

"We'll have a timer on each of them. They'll all go off at six o'clock tomorrow night," Arturius says groggily walking in to the kitchen. I walk over to my sleepy boy.

"You know, Gothica is going to love you forever right?" I say. He blushes and pushes my arms off of his shoulders. "Aww, is my baby boy getting embarrassed?" I tease. Suddenly, Ekaterina is laughing her head off.

"Can I kill her?" Arturius asks me. I shake my head and put my arms around him again. "I won't be able to work if she's hanging around," he grumbles.

I look at Ghastly. "Kat, can you come here for a moment?" I call to her. I see her pale face peak out from behind the doorframe. She looks a lot like I did when I was thirteen. She looks like a ten year old with her cute round face. "Come here silly," I say.

"Am I in trouble?" she asks.

"No," I tell her.

"Yes," Ghastly says sternly. I look at him confused. "We need to have 'the talk' about boys, missy." I smile knowing that he's referring to her kissing that boy the other day. Ekaterina's nose scrunches up in disgust.

"I'll pass," she says stepping into the room. Ghastly smiles and walks over to our daughter. He hugs her and she hugs him back. "So, mum, what's up?"

"Let's go wake up Gothica and then the three of us can go on a girl's day so your brother can work." I can see her eyes light up at this. "Go wake her up, I need to talk to the three fine gentlemen in the house." I out the kitchen door and watch Ekaterina run up the stairs. "Lev!" I call.

"What?" he snaps like normal.

"Can you come down here for a moment?"

There's a slight hesitation. "No,"

I sigh, knowing that this is going to be a hard battle. "Lev, get your ass down here now!" I yell just like our mum did when we were teenagers. I made my voice sound as much like Mum's and I am surprised with how well it turned out. Suddenly, Lev comes rushing down the stairs and looks around.

"Where's Mum?" he asks franticly.

"In London, Sherlock," I tell him. He looks surprised.

"Then who was . . .?" his voice falters for a moment. "I hate you."

"No, you love me," I remind him. "Anyway to the point I called you down here for. Lev, I need you to help Art fix the Soul Catchers so we can get Valkyrie back. But after Arturius gets some rest. Got it?"

"Alright," Lev says suspiciously.

"Mum, I need someone who can work with electronics and things like that," Art tells me.

"And your uncle is extremely good at that. Now, I'm going to take the girls out and let you to do what ever it is you boys do."

Suddenly, Ekaterina runs down the steps and runs behind Ghastly. "She's going to kill me," she whines.

"I am not," Gothica says rubbing her head.

"Are you alright?" Ghastly asks, walking up to her. She looks at him.

"Nope. My head feels like it's about to explode."

"Ewww! Brain guts would be all over then!" Ekaterina says. I look at her sternly.

"Just get some sleep, love. The boys will be as quiet as possible right?" I ask looking at Lev and Arturius. They nod and I smile. I look at my daughter. "You ready to go?"

"Mummy?" Ekaterina asks wrapping her hand in mine. I look down at her. "What if it doesn't work?"

"What do you mean, love?"

"What if we can't get Valkyrie back? Do you think Gothica will leave?" I tense up at this thought.

"She won't leave," I say. Ekaterina nods. We walk down the street from the shop we were just at down to the park.

Suddenly, she's running in front of me. I watch as she tries to jump over the huge puddle from the rain this morning. She doesn't make it and lands in the middle of it. The water sprays up and gets her soaked. I can't help but laugh. She walks back towards me and I bend down to look at her.

"Why can't I be like you or Art or daddy?" she asks.

"What?" I ask, wiping a strand of hair out of her face.

"I don't have some awesome power like you guys!" she whines. "You can run up walls, and unlock or lock doors without a key. Arturius can through fire and run really fast because he's still trying to figure out wither he wants to be Elemental or Adept. Daddy can control the air, and fire, and water and he can sew clothes that nothing can pierce! Why can't I do any of that?"

I sigh and lead her to a near by bench. I knew this talk would come someday soon. "Did you father not tell you the test results from what . . . a week ago?" I ask. She shakes her head. This doesn't actually surprise me much. When Ghastly knew what she was, he was terrified.

"What were they?"

"Have you ever had a dream or a flash of something like an event and then a few days or weeks later it happens? She thinks for a moment then nods slowly. "The tests say that you're a . . . a natural Sensitive." Her eyes widen at this. "You're grandmother on your fathers side was one too. That's where you get it from."

"Wow, really? Why didn't I think of that?" I smile sadly. Then her surprise goes to complete shock and terror.

"Kat, what's the matter?"

She looks at me and suddenly her eyes are filled with tears. "Gothica, I think . . . I think she's going to die."

"What. When?"

"I don't know. I saw this in my dream last night. It was Gothica and this man and he killed her with some kind of magic I've never seen before."

"What did the man look like?" I ask.

"I didn't see his face, but he had a red right hand." I relax at this.

"That was just a nightmare, love. The man with the red right hand is dead. Skulduggery killed him when Valkyrie was twelve."

"Oh, all right!" she says cheerfully. I smile and watch her stand up and run after the birds.

The rest of the day is sweet and amazing. I realize that I never really get time with my daughter. It makes me happy to see her running and playing and laughing and talking.

But for some reason though, it makes me sad.

Ekaterina and I walk into the house laughing at a really bad joke we heard in a restaurant earlier. We walk into the living room and see Gothica and Arturius kissing. Ekaterina makes a sound of disgust. "Not again!" Gothica and Arturius look up at us surprised. "Get a room! Oh wait, even in a room I walk into . . this!"

My son glares at his sister and she just sticks out her tongue. "So," I say interrupting the opportunity for a fight breaking out. "How'd the Soul Catchers go?" I ask.

"Oh, um there's a slight change. We can't just place them and let them run until the time goes comes for them to go off. It was just too big of a pain to try to figure out. So instead, we put a different time limit on each of them. Gothica will have to go to each place in a certain order and press a button that starts the seconds to tick down," he explains

"That seems more confusing," I point out.

"Well, it's the only thing we can think of."  
"So explain it like you're explaining it to Finnbar Wrong." I say. He looks at me puzzled. "Never mind about that reference. You don't know him. So explain it like you would a really stupid person so I can actually understand it."

"Fine, Gothica will have all the Soul Catchers and place them one by one at each place. She'll start with the Catcher that has the longest time limit and she'll place it in her grandparents' house. Then she'll go to China's library and place that one there, then the Bentley, then Skull's house, then Gordon's house, then here, and lastly at her house in Colorado. We calculated how long it takes her to get to each place and then used those calculations and figured out how long to make each timer. Do you get it now?" he asks me.

I nod slowly. "Alright." I look around letting the plan sink in. "Do you know where your father is?"

"In your room," Arturius tells me. I smile and walk up the stairs to my room. I knock on the door and walk in.

Ghastly looks up from his book. I smile and walk over to the bed. He doesn't say anything. I sit and lean my shoulder against his chest. He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of the head. I look at the clock and see it's seven.

I shift my body and sit on his lap. He smiles and kisses my nose. Our lips meet and the feeling of new love spreads over me- just like every time he kisses me. I pull back and move next to him. "Are you okay?" he asks.

I shrug. His hand wraps around my hip. He strokes my cheek with his other one. Suddenly, I'm crying for no reason. He doesn't seem surprised by this though, which doesn't make sense because I rarely cry. "I was waiting for this," he whispered to me.

I look at him, and he wipes a tear from my cheek. "W-what do you mean?" I ask between sniffles. He holds my hand and looks me in the eyes. "Tanith, we're getting Valkyrie back, Fletcher isn't dead, and there's some wacko out there after Gothica and Valkyrie. Things are going to get difficult and my job's going to get a lot more stressful." Of course I knew this, but I didn't want to believe it. "I know I tell you how I feel a lot, but I still feel like I don't say it enough. I love you, Tanith Low. I love you and nothing will ever change that."

"There's a 'but' coming isn't there?" I ask. He looks away and I squeeze his hand. "What?" I ask.

"There isn't a but, Tanny." That's his nickname for whenever he's sorry about something. "I just, want to say I'm sorry."

"For what?" I was scared about what was coming. He kisses me gently. "Ghastly, what's going on?"

"For not marrying you yet." I feel my eyes go wide at this. He leads me to the edge of the bed and I can feel the butterflies in my stomach come to life again. I watch as he kneels on one knee and slips a small box out of his pocket. I resist the urge to just say yes and let him say, "Tanith Low, I've loved you since I turned back from stone. It's been sixteen years since we became a couple. I've been trying to ask you this for a long time now, but every time I want to, we suddenly get into a life threatening situation or I was just too scared to ask you."

I bite my lip in happiness. "Tanith," he takes my hands and continues, "will you marry me?"

"YES!" I squeal. I tackle him and he starts laughing until I shut him up with a million kisses. "Yes . . . yes . . . yes!" I say between kisses. After a few minutes, we sit up and he grabs the small box and opens it to revile a beautiful diamond ring. "Oh my god, it's beautiful," I say.

"It was my mother's engagement ring," he tells me. I look at him and smile even bigger (if that was even possible). I let him put the ring on my left ring finger. I wrap my arms around him and he picks me up bridal style. I laugh a girlish laugh and he chuckles. "I love you," he says placing me on the bed.

"I love you," I tell him, pulling him down closer to me. I kiss him just as the bedroom door opens.

"What the hell's going on in here?" Lev asks. I groan and look at him. "What?"

"Oh, guess what, Big Brother, I'm getting married!" I say gleefully. He just looks at me, then at Ghastly, then at me, and back to Ghastly.

"Dad's not going to be happy when he hears your marring a man he doesn't know," Lev says. Then without another word, he turns around and walks away.

"Just ignore him. I do all the time," I tell Ghastly. He smiles and kisses me again.

I wake up, wrapped in my new fiancé's arms. I knew this day couldn't get any better. Then I remembered that we were getting Valkyrie back.

So maybe I was wrong, this day could get better.

I shift and see Ghastly looking at me. "Morning," he says.

"Hiya," I say back. He props himself up on his elbow.

"You ready for today?" he asks. I nod. "We still need to tell the kids."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

The day is hectic, but worth it. Ghastly and I told the kids that we were getting married and they jumped for joy (Ekaterina literally jumped and hit her head on the railing she was under at the time). All of us were busy getting ready for Val's return. Gothica teleported from place to place once every hour so she would memorize the path, Arturius made sure each of the Soul Catchers would work right, and Ghastly, Skulduggery, Ekaterina, and I calculated the most likely place Val would show up.

We decided that she would be put together in the middle of all the places or somewhere near there. Let's just hope we're right.

Time was quickly passing and before we knew it, it was already five o'clock.

"Hey," I say to Gothica. She's standing on the front porch, holding that doll of hers.

She doesn't respond.

"You okay?" I ask. I walk up to her and see her shaking. "Goth?"

"Tanith," she says, her voice small. "I'm scared." I put my hands on her shaking shoulders.

"Everything's going to be alright. I promise. We're going to get her back, don't worry." She looks at me, her eyes the most beautiful color ever. I take her hand in mine.

"What if . . . she doesn't want me like my father? What if she is like the ghosts that tried to attack me? God, Tanith, there's so many question I need answered before I see her again," she says.

"Hey, shhh. I'll answer them, but you need to know that your mother was the most amazing woman I knew and she defiantly passed that trait down to you, Gothica Rose." She smiles at this. "So, what dying question do you have?"

"Who's Darquess?"

I tense at this. "Darquess was said to be the destroyer of the world."

"What does she have to do with my mum?"

"You mother . . . was Darquess. Er, Darquess was her. The best way, we found to describe her is, that she was Valkyrie's mood swing." I explain. "None of us like talking about it much."

"Alright," I can tell Gothica's uncomfortable with this.

She asks me more questions and I answer them. Some of them were about; missions, magic, friends, lovers, and enemies.

After an hour, Ghastly comes out and tells us it's about time to start the mission. I turn Gothica around so she's facing me. "I love you," I tell her, kissing her forehead.

She wraps her arms around my neck and I can feel the tears on my shoulder. "Thank you, Tanith, for everything," she whispers in my ear.

We walk into the house and see Fletcher. I look at him and he nods at me. After ten minutes, it's time for Gothica to start.

"Well, ain't we an interestin' crowd gathered," a Texan accent says behind me. I spin around and see Billy-Ray Sanguine. I feel the immediate anger.

"Gothica, go," I hiss.

"But."

"Go!" Out of the corner of my eye I can see the teenager disappear. Out of the other eye I see Fletcher disappear too. "What do you want?" I growl at Sanguine.

"I think ya know, darlin'."

"You aren't getting anywhere near Gothica," Ghastly says in a threatening tone.

"That's not what I was talkin' 'bout, Elder." He looks back at me. "I want my love back," he tells us.

"I'm not your love, Sanguine! Get with reality you idiot!" I yell.

"Mummy, who is this?" Ekaterina asks me. I look at her to tell her to be quiet.

The next things happen to fast for me to process.

Lights explode in front of my eyes as something hard hits my head. I hear fighting around me. A scream and an evil laugh. When I come to my senses, I see Sanguine outside holding Ekaterina by the hair. His straight razor at her neck.

I run outside, anger welling up inside of me. My back is burning but I don't care. I lunge for Sanguine, but he sinks into the ground with my daughter. He comes back up a few feet away. I look at him just in time to see his razor split Ekaterina's neck.

"NO!" I scream.

Sanguine starts laughing. I run to my daughter's body on the ground. I kneel in her crimson blood that's spilling out of the wound. She's not breathing, she's not moving, she's not alive. I feel the tears start to spill immediately. My daughter, gone? I couldn't imagine it, yet here it was. I stroke her curly blond hair gently just like I used to do when she was asleep.

My back is burning. I know I need to calm down or else all hell will break loose. But, I couldn't control it.

"Tanith, don't!" Ghastly calls out. He knows what's coming. "Tanith!"

I can't stop the feeling of evilness rising, just like I couldn't the first night it took over me.

The remnant is rising again.

I scream, though I know it won't do anything. I can hear Skulduggery and Ghastly yelling my name though they know it's useless.

Ghastly, the man I love. I promised him I would never let the remnant out, no matter how angry, or upset I got. Now, I broke that promise.

Billy-Ray Sanguine did it. He killed my daughter, broke the seal on the remnant, and by the look on Ghastly's face, he made my lover hate me. He finally got what he wanted- he ruined my life.


	15. Chapter 15 Gothica

I teleport to my grandparents house, confused on what was going on back at Tanith's.

Alice was supposed to be standing outside waiting for me, but she's not there. Instead, Desmond is standing there.

"Gothica," he greats me.

"Desmond," I say back. I walk over to him expecting to be let in, but he doesn't move. "Can I come in?" They all know about the plan, so I don't understand why he won't let me in.

"You're a lot like your mum, you know. You look like her, you sound like her, and you act like her," he suddenly says.

"Alright, thanks. I guess." I try to walk in, but he walks in front of me. I look at him confused.

"I'm not done."

"Okay, sorry," I tell him.

"I disowned Stephanie, and let me tell you, that was the worst mistake of my life," he continues. "She was smart, beautiful, sweet, kind, funny," I can tell he's getting choked up. "And brave. Damn, she was the bravest person I knew. I can't believe it took me this long to realize it. She kept us out of the loop on magic so we wouldn't get hurt. She did it to protect us." He looks me in the eyes. "When you get her back, please tell her all of that. Tell her I regret it, and that I love her." I smile and nod unsure of what else to do. "Thank you."

"Yeah." I look at the door. "Can I come in now?" He smiles sadly but nods anyways and opens the door for me. "Thanks," I tell him. Quickly, I walk into the living room. Alice and Melissa are sitting on the couch talking. They look at me when I walk in and smile. "Hi," I say.

"Hello, dear," Melissa says back. I grab the Soul Catcher from my bag and place it on the floor. "Oh, Eve," she says just before I press the button to get the timer started. I look up at her. "Tell Stephanie- er Valkyrie we say hi alright?"

"Alright," I say smiling. I look back at the Soul Catcher.

Now, there's no going back. I can't mess up or else Mum will never come back. It's all up to me, a sixteen year old girl who has been chased down by maniacs since she was eight. A girl who has looked after herself her entire life wither or not she had a family or parent. A girl who is the partner of a living, egotistical skeleton detective, the girl who lives with a hyper woman who is in her nineties but looks in her twenties and acts like a four year old and a man who has scars all over his head and can make the most amazing clothes that nothing can pierce.

The only daughter of the annoying Fletcher Renn and the one and only Valkyrie Cain.

I take a deep breath and press the button.

The button that means the true life or death of my mother.

I teleport to China's library and nothing important happens, so I just press the button and move on. Then I teleport to the Bentley which is in front of Skulduggery's house. I set the Catcher down and press the button and do the same in his house. Next, I move to Gordon's house. Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain across my chest. I open my eyes and see Mum's ghost with a glass shard that dripping with blood in her hand.

I somehow get the Soul Catcher out of my bag while dodging the shard. Suddenly, Mum becomes frozen and I see she's looking at the Soul Catcher. I place it on the ground and press the button but she doesn't move. It's like the thing mesmerizes her. I quickly teleport out of there and back to Tanith's house.

Outside, I hear a bunch of commotion. I quickly take a look and see Tanith slicing Billy-Ray Sanguine to bits. Ekaterina is on the ground bleeding with Arturius over her. I don't even want to know what's going on. I quickly put the Soul Catcher down and press the button. Then without looking outside, I teleport to my home in Colorado.

The house is a dark and dreary as it was the other day. I look to the ground, while pulling the Soul Catcher out of my bag. This is it, the last one. I can't believe I actually did this right! I see the blood stain start to boil like before and Mum climbs out of it half way then freezes, looking at the Catcher just like she did in Gordon's. I smile knowing that Skulduggery would love to hear that even in ghost form, she still gets easily distracted.

I teleport out of there and to the 'meeting place' as we call it. I look at my watch and count the seconds till the Soul Catchers should go off.

Three, two, one.

I look up just as a blinding light comes. I shield my eyes, feeling the cut across my chest for the first time since I got it. I know that I'm losing lots of blood because of it, but other than the light-headedness, I'm fine for now.

Suddenly, I feel hands on my shoulders but I don't know whom they belong to. After a few moments, the light dies down and I look at the person the hands belong to.

"Dad?" I ask unable to hide the surprise.

"Hey," he says gently. We look where the light was and I my breath catches.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Mum screams looking around. She looks around completely confused. Then she looks at us and her mouth drops open. "Fletch? Eve, is that . . . you?" I nod, allowing the tears to fall down my face.

"Mum!" I say running towards her like I did after the first day of Kindergarten. I throw my arms around her neck and she laughs. She holds me at arms -length and looks me up and down.

"Wh- how?" she asks. Then her face falls. "I was dead wasn't I?"

"Technically no," I tell her. Her eyes close and I put my hand on her cheek.

"I remember that night. Wreath, he killed me didn't he?"

"Yeah," I tell her. She looks at the ground. Then she looks behind me.

"I thought you were dead!" she yells at Fletcher. He walks up and smiles that cocky smile of his. "Don't smile at me like that. Now how the hell are you here?"

"Dear, it doesn't matter how or why, all that matters is that your alive and we're a family again." He puts his arms around Mum and I.

I push him away and look at him in descust. "A family? Now you want to be a family? Even after you faked your death so you wouldn't have to deal with me?" I yell. I couldn't believe this guy. He was a jerk.

"Wait, WHAT?" Mum yells.

We both look at her. "He faked his death because he didn't want a girl." Mum looks at him and I see him cringe.

"You didn't," she says in a threating tone.

"I had my reason-"

"Shut up!" She keeps yelling at him and I remember the scene at Tanith's.

"Alright, we can work this out later. There's trouble at Tanith's," I tell them.

"What? How do you know that?" Fletcher asks me.

"I had to teleport there, dummy."

"Don't speak to me like that. I'm your father."

I give him a smug smile. "No you're not." I grab my mother's arm and teleport in front of Tanith's home.

Sanguine is clearly dead, Ghastly is pinning Tanith down on the ground yelling at her, Skulduggery and Arturius are kneeling over Ekaterina's blood soaked body.

I look at Mum and quickly we run over to my boy-friend. I see the huge gash on Ekaterina's neck. I fall to my knees on the other side of her body and look at Skulduggery. "No," I say.

"I'm afraid so," Skulduggery says softly.

"We can get her to Nye or Clarabelle can't we?" I ask.

"It's . . . too late . . . Goth," Arturius says between sobs. I can't help but cry.

"No. Kat, please don't leave," I beg. When she doesn't answer the tears start flowing harder. "Kat?" I ask, my voice small.

Suddenly, I understand what Ghastly's yelling, "You promised me, Tanith! You said no matter what you wouldn't let it out, damn it!" I see Mum look over at them and her eyes go wide. I hear Tanith mutter something. "I DON'T CARE!" he roars.

Without thinking, I run towards them. I yank Ghastly off of his lover and push him away from her. "What the hell, Ghastly?" I scream. Out of the corner of my eye I see Tanith slowly stand up. Her face is streaked with tears. I turn at her. "What's going on?"

Tanith suddenly smiles evilly and lunges at me. I scream, and right as she pins me on the ground, Ghastly's strong arms wrap around her waist and pulls her off of me. I scoot back and look at her. "She's not herself," Skulduggery whispers, while helping me up.

"Oh really? I had no idea," I say sarcastically. Ghastly pins his fiancé against the wall of the house.

"Ghastly, that's enough," Skulduggery says walking over to his old friend. He walks over and bangs the butt of his gun on Tanith's head and her body goes limp.

"SKULDUGGERY!" I shriek. He looks at me but says nothing. We all stand there, not saying anything.

"What the matter with her?" Arturius asks, breaking the unbearable silence.

Skulduggery looks at Ghastly. "The remnant."

"She got rid of that sixteen years ago!" I yell.

"No, we just told you kids that so you wouldn't be afraid of her. China found some symbols that can put the evil spirit inside of a person into a . . . hibernation state. If she got angry enough, the remnant would be relived and that's what happened here," he explains. I look at Arturius and see his face completely heart-broken.

"Art," I say. I know that this is hard on him. It's hard on me too, but this is his family. He just saw his little sister get killed and his mum loose it. He looks at Ghastly, then at Tanith, Sanguine, Skulduggery, me, then lastly his sister's.

Without another word, he turns around and starts to walk away. "Art!" I call. I run after him and grab his arm. He pushes me away and I stumble over a tree root and land in the puddle of Ekaterina's blood.

A black car pulls up and China steps out of the door. "You called?" Then she sees the mess and her face goes into shock. "What on earth?"

"Long story short. Sanguine, Ekaterina, Tanith, remnant," Skulduggery explains. I watch as China sighs and walks over to Tanith's knocked-out body. She turns her onto her stomach and lifts the back of the shirt. I see three interact circles drawn on Tanith's back.

She grabs a pen like object out of her pants pocket and pushes it into her back, following the patterns of the circles. After a few minutes, she presses the middle circle and all three of them start glowing. "That should do it," she says gently. Tanith moans and slowly sits up.

"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Mum asks. I realize this is the first time she's spoken since we've gotten here. Everyone looks at her in surprise. She ignores everyone else and looks straight at Skulduggery. Neither of them say a thing, but she runs to him and throws her arms around his skinny waist. "Please," she whispers into his chest. He wraps his arms around her and bends down to whisper in her ear. I don't hear what he says, but Mum nods and backs away.

She walks over to Ghastly and hugs him. I can tell, Ghastly's really hesitant to do anything, but he hugs her back anyways. Then, Mum walks over to Tanith and kneels in front of her. "Tanith?"

"Val?" The two woman squeal and hug each other. "Oh, my god, it worked. It really worked."

"At least, one thing worked out today," Ghastly mutters. Tanith quickly stands up and walks over to him. She tries to hug him but he walks away.

"Ghastly?" she asks confused.

"No, Tanith. You promised me, now that promise is broken."

"What are you saying?"

He looks away from her and I can see the tears on his face. "You know what I'm saying."

Tanith's face falls and she opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. "I'm sorry, I swear I didn't mean it," she says her voice cracking with sadness.

"It's not going to cut it."

"Ghastly, our daughter was just murdered! You really think I'm not going to be mad about that?" she yells anger suddenly flaring up. He turns towards her.

"You said no matter what happens you'll never get angry enough. That means no matter who dies! Now, look I'm extremely pissed that she's dead too, and I think you were right to take out Sanguine, but letting the remnant out, now that . . . . is unforgivable."

"Ghastly!" Tanith says. She tries to grab onto him like I did with Arturius, but instead of getting pushed away, he strikes her. I flitch at this. Tanith stumbles back holding her cheek. The shock on her face in intense.

Without another word, Ghastly stalks off, leaving Tanith laying on the ground crying, me standing there not knowing what to do, and his daughter on the ground dead.

So much for the plan working out.


	16. Chapter 16 Gothica Six Weeks Later

I think back to the accident that happened six weeks ago. Since then, I haven't seen Ghastly unless it's for work with my Mum and Skulduggery. Tanith just kind of sits in her room doing nothing but grieving. Arturius and I well, we've sort of grown apart. He's become distant again and it's really starting to get me worried. Mum, Skulduggery, and I have all grown closer over the last while.

As for my dad, I see him every once in a while around the Sanctuary. Mum has decided to get a divorce and let me tell you, she wasn't nice about her decision. Slowly, mum, Alice, Desmond, and Melissa are working everything out so I guess in all, with one family in my life everything's working out better but with the other family, everything's quickly dissolving. Who knew that one little mistake that wasn't even Tanith's fault could break apart a closely-knit family so easily?

Lots of people are trying to help Ghastly, Arturius, and Tanith smooth things over. A few weeks ago, Ravel came and tried to make her laugh. I remember standing there looking at him like he was insane.

"Tanith," he said after taking a fake thermometer out of her mouth. "You are in critical condition!"

"What do you mean?" I asked him. He looked at me quickly then back to Tanith.

"Depression, missing a loved one so much that you won't come out of your room, sitting in front of a window and looking outside longingly, it's worse than I feared. Tanith, I'm afraid you've caught the worse case of all time. You've caught the Twilight Disease! You're turning into . . ." then he paused for dramatic affect. "Tanith Swan!" I couldn't help but laugh at this. But Tanith didn't laugh, instead, she through a pillow at her friend and ignored him.

Since then, no one's been trying to make her laugh.

I'm sitting in my hammock looking outside. My mum and Skulduggery are on the bed looking over case files. I somehow managed to get Arturius in here with me so he's sitting on the window seal in front of me. I lean forward and put my hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me and I force a smile onto my face. He smiles back sadly, which is more than I've gotten out of him for a while.

I lean back and close my eyes. After a few moments, I feel hands on my waist and soft lips kissing me. I don't even bother to open my eyes; all I do is kiss my boyfriend back. Quickly, he pulls back and presses his forehead on mine. I can feel Mum and Skulduggery watching us, but I don't care. I kiss Arturius again. I wasn't about to loose him.

Soon, Skulduggery makes a sound that's like he's clearing his throat. We look over at him and I see Mum trying to hide her smile. "What?" I ask.

"Some people are trying to work here you know," he replies.

"Well you can work somewhere else or get over it!" I snap.

"That's enough, both of you," Mum interrupts. "Now, I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to go check on Tanith." Arturius straightens up and looks at her. "Do you want to come?" he nods, but doesn't say anything. Mum smiles at my boyfriend and the walk out of the room. After a few moments, I look at Skulduggery and he looks at me.

"How are you holding up?" he asks. He hasn't really had the time to check up on me lately. I shrug. "Gothica, that can mean a lot, now tell me how you're doing."

"Obviously not well," I tell him. He walks over to me and wraps my hand in his.

"I've been talking to Ghastly,"

"Oh yeah, and how's that turning out?" I ask. I'm mad at Ghastly. If I were to take sides, I would take Tanith's. Ghastly honestly didn't have a right to get mad like that. She couldn't control it; I mean she saw her daughter get killed for God's sake!

"I actually do think I'm getting through to him. It doesn't mean that things will turn back to normal, they never will, but it might mean that things might be able to be worked out between the two of them."

"Well, lets hope your right. I don't know how much longer before Art losses it," I point out. I stand up and stretch. "Let's go with them." He nods and we make our way out to the hallway.

"Tanith, can you please let me in?" Mum asks at Tanith's door. I hear a muffled response. "Please?" I walk up to her and look at Arturius on the ground. I sigh and walk up to the door. I pound my fist.

"Gothica, stop it!" I hear Tanith yell at me.

"No!" I yell back. "Now let us in!" I order. When there's no response I groan and look at the door. There wasn't a sheen on it, so she didn't use her Adept powers on the lock. I beacon for Mum to step back and she does. I back up and run at the door. I kick it and it swings open. I stumble backwards and Skulduggery catches me.

I hear the front door open and close downstairs, but I don't look at who it is. It's probably just someone here to see Tanith or Arturius.

Mum walks into the room first. She gasps and runs farther in. I look at Skulduggery and Arturius and together we all run in.

Sitting on the ground in front of her bed is Tanith. Her blonde hair is a wreck; her skin is pale since she hasn't seen the sunlight in a while, and her beautiful face is streaked with tears. I look down at her arms and see the small cuts along them. She has a small knife in her hand. "Tanith," Skulduggery sighs.

I watch him walk forward. "Don't come any closer, Skulduggery, or I swear to God," she threatens. He stops walking and puts his hands up in a surrendering position. I watch her ash she slightly runs the blade across her skin. I cringe as I see just a bit of blood come up. I look at Arturius and see he's pail.

"Tanith," Skulduggery says gently, "give me the blade." She doesn't respond. Instead she cuts a bit deeper on her thigh. Skulduggery walks forward again and Tanith raises her knife towards him. He stops and they stay there, frozen in a stand off. If she cuts herself once more, Skulduggery will tackle her and if he moves, she'll hurt herself or him. I can feel the tension rising in the air.

I hear foot steps out in the hallway but I don't look at who it is. I step forward and pull Skulduggery back a step. He looks at me and I shake my head. "Tanith," Mum says calmly. "This isn't good, you know that, so put the knife down right now."

"Just leave me alone, Val. You're not the one who lost your kid and then your lover! You're not the one with an evil creature inside of you!" Tanith screams.

"Yes, I know that, Tanith! But you've seemed to forget that I was supposed to be the destroyer of the world! You also seem to forget that you have another kid that you need to look after damn it!" Mum yells back. I look at Arturius at this and I see he's shaking violently. I grab onto his arm and try to pull him out of the room, but he yanks his arm out from my grasp.

"YOU'RE BEING AN IDIOT, MUM!" He screams. "This is serious! You are never going to get dad back if you're acting like this! Ekaterina will never be able to rest in peace with you like this damn it!" Tanith shrinks back a bit at this. Then, Arturius breaks down into sobs.

"I'm sorry, Art, but I just can't take care of you right now. I can't-" she begins.

"You can't what?" a deep voice interrupts behind me. I quickly turn around and see the man I was least expecting. "What can't you do?

"Ghastly," Skulduggery says flatly. I see Tanith advert her eyes from all of us. "Will you please help us get control of Tanith?" I look over at her just as she cuts her self again. Ghastly doesn't respond, neither does Tanith, nor anyone else. "Well, this isn't awkward at all," Skulduggery says sarcastically. Ghastly looks at me, then at his son, then at his ex-girlfriend.

"Will all of you please excuse Tanith and I for a few moments?" he finally says. I take Art's hand and pull him out into the hallway. Mum and Skulduggery follow. I watch as Ghastly shuts the bedroom door.

We stand there in silence. Suddenly, I hear Ghastly and Tanith yelling. There's crashes a small squeal and then nothing. I fell Arturius next to me. His hand flies to mine and I can feel how scared he is. I look at Mum who looks at terrified as I feel. I start towards the door, but Skulduggery puts his hand on my arm. I look at him and he shakes his head.

"Let them work it out," he whispers. I reluctantly step back, while looking at the door. We wait a few minutes, but nothing happens. Soon, I hear Tanith crying. I look at Skulduggery again and he beacons for us all to sit down. I put my arms around my boyfriend and hold him close. After what feels like forever, the door opens.

Ghastly comes out, holding Tanith's hand. They don't seem to notice us. "Let's get you cleaned up," he tells her. I see Arturius raise his head in response to this. Did they make up? Tanith sees up and smiles.

"Is everything alright between the two of you?" Mum asks.

"I'll explain later," Ghastly responds. He walks Tanith to the bathroom and closes the door behind him.

I can feel Arturius's mood plummet. "Hey, it looks like things are worked out. And if they aren't yet, they'll get there," Mum tells him. He shrugs and stands up. He looks down at me and I stand up. He holds my hand and pulls me to his room.

We sit on the bed, not doing or saying anything. I know he's afraid of what's going on between his parents. I plop on my back and close my eyes.

Soon, sleep takes over me.

I wake up a few hours later in Arturius's bed. I sit up drowsily and look around. The lights are off and Arturius isn't there. Slowly, I stand up and stretch, then I make my way out into the hallway.

The air smells like steak and potatoes. I walk down the steps to the kitchen. In there, I see Tanith and Ghastly talking while cooking. "Uh," I say, not sure of what to do. They look at me and Tanith smiles gently. She opens her arms, allowing me to know it's okay to come in.

I walk up to her and hug her thin waist. She gives me a big squeeze then pushes me towards Ghastly. I look at him then down at the ground. I'm not sure how I feel about him right now. I'm still mad that he left like that, but it looks like things were worked out. "I'm not the bad guy, Gothica, you know that," he says. I look up at him again and slowly walk up to him. I hug him and he wraps his arms around my small shoulders.

"Sooooo," I say awkwardly. "What's going on?"

"Well," Tanith says. "We talked and we decided we can work things out, although it's going to take a bit."

"Alright, and?" I say.

"I'm going to move out for now," Ghastly says. I look up at him in shock.

"What? You can't do that!" I shriek. He smiles and pats my head.

"It's going to be fine, Gothica. I'll move in after everything is smoothed out between Tanith and I alright?"

"I'll hold off on that plan for now, my old friend," someone says behind me. I turn around and see a man I don't recognize.

"Dexter?" Ghastly asks. He walks up to his old friend and pats him on the back.

"Ghastly," Dexter says warmly. He gives Ghastly a quick hug. I look at Tanith and she shrugs. Dexter looks at me and Tanith and smiles sweetly. "And who are these fine, young ladies?"

"This, Dexter, is Gothica Rose, Valkyrie's daughter," Ghastly says directing a finger in my way. "And this is the beautiful Tanith Low," he says lovingly looking at her. She smiles and looks down bashfully. "Ladies, this is my old friend Dexter Vex."

"Hi," I great him, taking his hand.

"Hello," Tanith says.

"It's nice to meet you both," Dexter says. Then he looks back at Ghastly. "Like I was saying, you might want to hold off those plans, Ghastly."

"Why? I have news about the man who sent the other men to kill Val."

"You're on this case too? Since when?" Ghastly asks confused.

"Since about one o'clock this afternoon. I came into Ravel's office to say hello to him and then he recruited me. I don't know how that happened, but it did, so here I am telling you news." I smile not sure what's going on.

"Well, what's the news?" Mum asks walking into the kitchen. Skulduggery and Arturius are right behind her.

"We got a ping on where the masked man is. He's trying to get more recruits for something. You know, getting that dimwit Scapegrace wasn't that bad an idea. Apparently, lots of people don't know he's working for the Sanctuary now. The man is talking to him right now."

"How do you know this?" Ghastly asks.

"Who cares, let's go!" Mum says. I can tell she's anxious to see who wanted her dead. I couldn't agree more, but at the same time, I was afraid to know. What if it was someone close to us? What if it was someone we didn't even know?

"Where are we going?" Skulduggery asks, getting his keys from his pocket.

"The pub in Roarhaven."

Skulduggery stops the Bentley and turns off the engine. Mum is in the passenger's seat and I am in the back. He turns towards us. "Are you two alright?" he asks. I shrug and look at Mum.

She looks at Skulduggery and I can see the terror in her face. "I have a really bad feeling about this." I nod, agreeing with her.

"The two of you can stay in here if you want."

"No," I say.

"No way in hell," Mum agrees. Skulduggery sighs and Mum smiles at him. "Looks like we're in another adventure, dear friend."

"Looks like it." Suddenly, the air is filled with the most awkward feeling of all-love. I scoot to the car door and open it before something weird can happen between the two of them. They aren't together, but like Tanith told me, I can tell they really do love each other.

Suddenly, I feel hands on my shoulders, and without thinking I flip the attacker over my shoulder. The breath is knocked out of him and I take a few steps back. I notice it's the man who has been chasing me since I was little. Skulduggery and Mum quickly get out of the car and I look at them. "Get the man in he mask! I'll handle him," I tell them.

"But," Mum says.

"GO!" I grab the man who's about to get up and I teleport the two of us to the place where it all began.

My house in Colorado.

The man lashes out a kick and it hits me in the jaw. I somehow manage to block the oncoming punch. I get in close and knee his groin, and then I grab his arm and twist him around into a wall. Pictures and frames fall onto the ground. I kick the man in the gut and, he looks up at me. He raises his arm and shadows lash out of his armband.

I doge most of them, but one grazes my upper arm. I feel the warm blood trickle down my arm. I doge more shadows all the while getting closer and closer to the attacker.

He slowly gets up and I'm just out of arm's reach. I inch closer and suddenly feel a need for bloodshed.

I suddenly feel the need for death, and murder.

Without thinking, I grab a mettle lamp and bash it as hard as I can against the man's temple. I hear a loud crack. For some reason, I couldn't stop from smiling.

Quickly, the smile fades and I realize I just killed a man. I take a step away from him and teleport outside of the pup in Roarhaven. Inside I see, Scapegrace, Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly, Arturius, Mum, and a tall man in a mask. I walk in and they all look at me. "Ah," the masked man says. "Looks like we have our full audience now." His voice is masked with some sort of masking device that makes him sound like Darth Vader from "Star Wars". "Now, Skulduggery, don't you want to take a guess at who I am?"

"I'm not in the mood for guessing, so why don't you just show us that stupid little face of yours so I can punch it," Skulduggery responds. The man sighs.

"You really know how to take the fun out of things." The man turns his back towards and raises his hands and slowly unties the mask. He allows it to fall to the ground, and slowly he takes off his gloves. First the left one, then the right. I can't see them though.

He turns around. His face is handsome. He has dark hair, pale skin, and shockingly emerald green eyes. His right hand is blood red. No one talks for a few moments.

"Hello there, my old enemies." Then he looks at me, his eyes intense. "And you must be Gothica Rose. It's nice to meet you, my name is Nefarian Serpine.


	17. Chapter 17 Gothica

I automatically hate this man. Not just because he sent men to kill me and Mum, but because of the way Tanith and the others react to him. Instantly, all of them get into fighting stance. "Who?" I ask the man. He looks at me shocked then he smiles.

"They didn't tell you about me? Well, that surprises me. Honestly, Skulduggery, I expected more from you."

"Well I honestly expected less of you, Nefarian. You should be ash right now, I killed you with the Scepter remember?" Skulduggery responds flatly. "How are you alive?"

What is with people that should be dead coming back to life lately? I mean really.

I look at Arturius and he shrugs at me. He doesn't understand what's going on and who this Nefarian Serpine man is just like me. I look at Skulduggery who's completely and utterly focused on this man. Tanith quickly pulls out her sword and steps in front of me and Arturius.

I note how different she is since this morning. She's back to normal, back to her bad assed self. Ghastly must have seen it too because he's looking at her with a loving and passionate gaze. I really hope it doesn't take long for them to work everything out.

Oh, wait, that's right bad guy alert! I look back to this weird Serpine guy and see his gaze is set on me. "What do you want?" I snap with all the bravery I can manage. He smiles at me. Why is he so freaking creepy? "What the hell do you want?" I yell.

"Your friends here know what I want," he says evenly.

"There's no way in hell we're going to let you win, Serpine," Tanith growls. He looks at her and he raises his red hand.

"Serpine, don't!" Ghastly yells. Serpine flexes his hand and Tanith suddenly starts screaming. Her body contorts into a weird angle. I can see Arturius try to move to his mother, but Skulduggery holds him back. "Serpine, stop it!" Ghastly yell in a threatening tone.

"Why, Ghastly? Do you love her?" Serpine says mockingly. "The beautiful woman and the scarred man, that's classic." He starts laughing a vile laugh. His hand relaxes and falls to his side, and Tanith stops screaming. She crashes to the ground, shaking. Ghastly runs over to her and cradle's her in his arms. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill any of you . . . yet," the man says.

"Then what do you want?" Mum asks. Serpine looked at her.

"You'll soon find out, dear Valkyrie Cain." He turns his back on us. "Oh and, Gothica," he says looking over his shoulder at me. "I am awaiting you visit." And with that, he disappeared. I look at the spot where he materialized, not sure what he meant. What visit?

I felt a bunch of eyes on me. I ignore them though. Quickly, I run to Tanith and kneel next to her. "What the hell?" I ask. "Who was that? What did he do to her?" I felt the tears start to well up in my eyes. I brushed them away with the ending of my sleeve.

"We'll explain at the Sanctuary," Skulduggery says, his voice emotionless.

I'm sitting next to Vaurien in the meeting room. I couldn't get over the story that I was just told. Nefarian Serpine should be dead because Skulduggery blasted him with the Scepter of the Ancients which is an ultimate weapon from myths and legends of long ago. Mum was almost killed by Serpine and his creepy red right hand that is full of Necromancer power. This was all too much for me to handle right now.

How was he alive? What did he mean by 'I await your visit'? Too many questions are swirling around in my head right now to even think of any answers.

Vaurien is filling out paperwork for the Elders. I watch him as he lazily writes his name in messy cursive. He looks over at me. "You alright?" he asks. In response I shrug. "A shrug isn't really an answer, Rosie." Rosie is the nickname he's started calling me since like three hours ago.

I sigh and turn my body towards him. "I don't know. I don't understand what's going on in my life right now I guess."

"You guess, or you know?" he asks.

"What?"

"It's important to be able to distinguish the two of them. If you say 'I guess', you're meaning that you don't actually know something for a fact. But if you say 'I know", that means that you do know that something for a fact. So, do you guess that you don't understand what's going on or do you know that you don't understand what's going on?"

"Are you procrastinating paperwork?" I ask. He sighs and nods. "Vaurien!" I say disapprovingly.

"I don't like paperwork! I don't understand it!" he whines.

"You don't understand a lot of things," I remind him. He looks at me and sticks out his tongue. In return, I slap the back of his head.

"OW!" he yells.

"Do I even want to know what the two of you are doing?" Mum asks while coming in the room. I look at her and I can't imagine her as a small twelve-year-old girl who had to go through hell and back right after her favorite uncle died. "You alright, love?" she asks me.

"Yeah," I lie.

"Don't lie to your mother like that, Gothica, or else you will leave me no chose but to sing Show tunes," Skulduggery says coming in. Mum looks at him strangely.

"Don't ask," I tell her. She nods her head slowly obviously not understanding what he said. I smile, but quickly it fades. "What does he want?" I ask. They all look at me.

"We are not sure yet. But we'll try to find out soon," Skulduggery says gently. Vaurien puts his hand on my shoulder and I see Mum cast Skulduggery a weary glance. "But, Gothica, until we do find out, I don't want you going anywhere alone all right?"

"Yeah," I tell him.

"Vaurien, Valkyrie, we must go. We have a meeting with the Elders." I watch as they leave.

"You should know not to put limits on a Teleporter, Skull," I mutter.

I'm listening to my Ipod. The Veronicas are blasting in my ears. I'm sitting at my desk drawing. I'm not the best surely not as good as Ekaterina was.

I feel my eyes start to sting at the thought of her. I imagine her cute round face, blonde curls, blue eyes, and huge personality. She didn't deserve to die. I wipe tears from my eyes.

I hear Tanith's bubbly laugh. I turn my music down now that she and Ghastly aren't arguing anymore like they were an hour ago. I love the two of them together, but that doesn't mean they aren't a weird couple.

Suddenly my phone starts wringing. I look at the number. I don't recognize it. "Hello?" I ask.

"You killed a man today didn't you?" I recognize Serpine's voice instantly. I go cold at the sound of his voice. How did he get my phone number?

"What do you want?" I quietly snap.

"Come see me and you'll find out." I don't respond for a minute. "Or do you need some persuasion?" he ads. "Alice, my dear, say hello to your niece." I hear a woman scream in the background.

"Stop!" I hiss at him.

"Come and she wont be killed."

"Fine, just tell me where," I say, anger welling up inside of me.

"The old warehouse where you had your first case with Skulduggery Pleasant." he tells me. "Oh and, Miss. Rose, come alone." And with that, he hangs up. I lower the phone. The warehouse. I haven't been there in years.

I stand up and walk over to my mirror. I know that using my reflection will get me in trouble with Tanith, but I have more things to worry about. I watch it come out and stare at me. "Just get into the bed and pretend to be asleep," I whisper. It nods. Quickly I change into the protective clothing Ghastly made me.

I cross to my drawer and pull out the carefully hidden gun.

This is it. One of us our going down.

"Nefarian!" I yell as I enter the old warehouse. "I'm here, now where the hell are you?" I walk around trying to find him and Alice. Everything is dark and all I can see is the shapes of shelves.

I walk deeper into the large building. "Come out, you coward!" I yell. Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain throughout my body. I scream. I hear Serpine's wicked laugh. Just as I feel my blood start to freeze, the pain stops. I lay on the floor gasping for breath. I feel something hard hit my head. I open my eyes and see the world around me spinning. Serpine comes into view and leans into my face.

"I'm not going to kill you. My lords will find you useful I'm sure of that," he hisses.

I glare at him and don't say anything. He smiles "You can feel the evilness inside of you. You wanted to kill that man. You didn't care what the moral rules of the world are. You just want blood to be spilt. You see, that's what being around Skulduggery does to people.

"His anger is what drives him, even now. It transfers to the people around him and they slowly become like him. That my dear is what has happened to you."

"I don't believe that!" I snap. He sighs and stands back up.

"You're just a young girl. You wouldn't understand." Anger wells up inside of me. I have heard that enough for a lifetime. No one has said it to me that bluntly, but saying 'I'm not ready for things' is basically saying the same thing.

"I am not going you let some jack ass like you tell me what I can and can't understand!" I yell. I flip onto my hands and land on my feet in front of him. The world starts spinning again, but I push the feeling aside. I kick Serpine in the jaw. He falls on the ground. I walk up to him and kneel him in the face. He sprawls out onto his back.

"It's not Skulduggery's fault. It's yours," I saw through gritted teeth. "Everything is your fault!" I scream. I pull the gun out of my coat pocket and point it in his face. "My mother was thought to be dead for eight years! I was almost killed hundreds of times being chased by your men! Tanith relived the remnant and lost Ghastly and even if they are working things out things will never be the same! Ekaterina- a thirteen-year-old girl- was murdered!

"You did all of this, damn it! Everything is your fault!" I realize now that he's unconscious, but I don't care about that or about the tears streaming down my cheek. "I know you're supposed to be dead. I don't know how you're alive, but that doesn't matter." He stirs and opens his eyes and looks at me. All I know is that I'm going to end you right here, right now."

"Then do it. I wont stop you," he croaks. I point the gun at his head and place my finger on the trigger. Why was I doing this? I'm not a murderer. Something inside of me is pushing me to pull the trigger. For the second time today I feel the need for death and bloodshed. I can feel the evilness inside of me start to rise.

"Gothica?" I hear Skulduggery call. I look up but can't see him.

"Just do it Gothica," I say to myself. "'Just end his miserable life!" The tears start falling down harder. I'm shaking. I'm scared. I don't want to kill him, but at the same time, I want to see him die. What is wrong with me?

"I'm not the only one. Other enemies of their past will come for you."

I see Skulduggery out of the corner of my eye. "No, Goth-"

I pull on the trigger. The blast from the gun is loud, the kick from it is powerful, the death that comes with it is instant and bloody. Seconds later, I feel hands on my waist. I'm pulled backwards away from Serpine's body. I scream and let the gun drop out of my hand. I can't stop looking at the body.

A face moves in the way of my view, "Hey, hey, I'm right here," Mum says. I look at her, aware of everything.

"Alice," I suddenly say.

"What?" she asks. I don't answer though. I run down the isle and take a right. There, sitting in a chair, all bloody and torn is my aunt. I hear footsteps behind me. I run to her and feel for her pulse.

I find it, but it's faint.

"Alice!" Mum screams. She runs to her younger sister. "Gothica, sweetheart, stand back." I do as she says and watch as Mum uses her Necromancy powers to make a shadow whip. She slashes at the chains that are holding Alice and they instantly break.

Suddenly, I feel hands spin me around and I'm looking into Skulduggery's eye sockets. "What the hell where you doing?" He yells at me. "I told you not to go anywhere alone!"

"How did you find me?" I ask meekly.

"Let's just say I have my way of finding you no matter what," he tells me. "Now, answer my question!"

"Skulduggery, that's enough," Mum says. "It's over."


	18. Chapter 18 Gothica Two Months Later

**Alright guys, well this is the ending of this story. The lyrics belong to The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I will be writing a second story for this soon. Thanks guys for sticking with this one! I'm really glad that you guys like it! **

* * *

TWO MONTHS LATER

It's been a quick turn around in events theses last few months. We never really found out what Serpine wanted, but we are all guessing that it was to kill me. I've been trying to hold the evil felling in, but whenever I get mad, I feel it creeping up. There's been no sign of other enemies from Mum and Skulduggery's past, but if they ever decide to show up, my guess is that they are waiting. Mum and Skulduggery have been dating for a few weeks now and I'm not sure what to think about that.

I watch as Tanith walks down the isle in her ivory white dress.

Did I forget to mention that she and Ghastly are getting married?

They decided they needed each other more than they thought. I look at Ghastly and he winks at me. Tanith's father brings her to Ghastly and kisses Tanith's cheek. The ceremony is quick and you can tell Tanith had been waiting all day to say 'I do" because she interrupts the minister with a loud exited "I do!"

I laugh and look at Mum who's standing next to me. She roles her eyes but smiles at her goofy friend. "You may now kiss the bride," the minister says. I smile and bite my lip to keep my self from laughing at Arturius's over dramatic disgusted face as his parents kiss.

At dinner, Mum tells the story of how she and Tanith met and the first time she went on Tanith's motorbike.  
Skulduggery tells the story of how he and Ghastly met. "I never knew pirates could lead a person to their best friend," Skulduggery says. "We almost died, but then again who can count how many times that's happened over the years, and yes there are times that you can be extremely irritating, and yes there have been times where I had the idea to cut your head off with a toothbrush," he gets a bunch of strange looks at this, "but if it weren't for those silly people with silly hats I never would have been able to meet you. So, Ghastly, congratulations."

The rest of the night is a blur. The dance for the newly wed is a performance by Arturius. He picks up his guitar. I realize that he's never actually played in front of a crowd before. "Um, hi," he says awkwardly. He looks at me and I nod my head to give him courage. "Mum, Dad, things have been tough lately, but we've been able to recover. I chose this song because it reminds me of your guys' relationship and because, well it's true for me too." He looks at me and winks and I can't help but blush. "This song is by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and it's called "_Your Guardian Angel_."

He starts strumming his guitar and singing.

_"When I see your smile_

_Tears run down my face_

_I can't replace_

_And now that I'm strong_

_I have figured out_

_How this world turns cold_

_And it breaks through my soul_

_And I know I'll find_

_deep inside me_

_I can be the one_

_Ghastly pulls Tanith to the dance floor and starts gracefully dancing._

_"I will never let you fall_

_I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

_"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay._

_Seasons are changing_

_And waves are crashing_

_And stars are falling all for us_

_Days grow longer and nights grow shorter_

_I can show you I'll be the one_

_I see him looking at me. Mum elbows me playfully._

_"I will never let you fall_

_I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

_"Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love, my whole heart_

_Please don't throw that away_

_Cuz I'm here for you_

_Please don't walk away and_

_Please tell me you'll stay, stay_

_"Use me as you will_

_Pull my strings just for a thrill_

_And I know I'll be okay_

_Though my skies are turning gray_

_"I will never let you fall_

_I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven"_

Seeing every one here, tonight, all smiles and laughter makes me think of these last few months. It was hard on everyone. We lost people we loved, but we also gained others. Relationships were tested, and proved stronger than hate. I killed two men, I let my evil side out, nut everyone did at least once. We all grew closer proving that pain can be a good thing.

I look at my partner Skulduggery Pleasant, my mother Valkyrie Cain, my friend Vaurien Scapegrace, my boyfriend Arturius Moon, and the people who took me in when I was thirteen Ghastly Bespoke and Tanith Low. I can't imagine life without any of them. They are all family, all friends, all people I love.

If I do have people chasing me, they are the people I want to be by my side. If I'm like Mum and have an evil side, all of these people are the ones I want to save me.

But now is not the time to think about that.

Now is the time to celebrate my friends.

Now is the time to love my family.

FIN


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